


Just Another Ghost Story

by Rocklobsters0304



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, Attempt at Humor, Blackmail, Character Death, Fluff, Ghost San, Gun Violence, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Murder Mystery, Panic Attacks, Poltergeists, Semi-Graphic Descriptions of Injury, Slow Burn, Trauma, Unrequited Love, Woosan, all ships are implied, but it's kinda sad, but it's very little of that, except for woosan, just in case, mentioned Homophobia, music major hongjoong, seongjoong, trigger warning, yungi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:02:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 46,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27595213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rocklobsters0304/pseuds/Rocklobsters0304
Summary: When Hongjoong moves into his new apartment, he finds it being haunted. Or so his friend tells him. He doesn’t believe it the slightest though, until one night, when a strange voice sings along with one of his songs.
Relationships: Choi San/Jung Wooyoung
Comments: 11
Kudos: 87





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! 
> 
> It’s been a while since I felt like writing and actually finishing it for once. I intended it to be a short story, but I guess I failed once more in keeping it short…  
> I didn't really know if I should post everything at once or divide it in parts, since there aren't really obvious places stop, but eventually I cut the story into three parts, which I will post every Monday. I hope that will make it easier to read?
> 
> On a side note, I came to the conclusion that I find it very awkward to write love stories (it makes me feel kind of uncomfortable?), so the romantic aspect in this story is taken to a minimum. There are scenes which could imply the ships in a romantic way, but it’s up to you to decide whether you want to see it like that or not. 
> 
> Anyways, as always, English is not my first language, so there could be some spelling and/or grammar errors.
> 
> I hope you’ll enjoy the story before I disappear again for an unknown amount of time ;)

_Crash!_

Barely awake, Hongjoong looked up from the only light source, it being his laptop, in the room. It was hard to see in the dark, since it was well past twelve AM, but he wouldn’t miss what object that sound belonged to. 

Hongjoong sighed when he forced himself from his comfortable desk chair and put his headphones off, before he went and searched for the light switch of his room. Using only the light from his monitor and the little bit of light that came from the nearest street lantern to his window, he carefully navigated himself past yet unopened boxes, which he should _really_ unpack soon. 

When the light was finally on, Hongjoong blinked a few times to let his eyes adjust to the sudden brightness - he also really shouldn’t spend so much hours in the dark, it would ruin his eyesight according to his parents… - before he made his way towards his small kitchen space, where he found what he suspected had crashed to the ground. 

“Yah~” Hongjoong groaned, “Can’t you leave my dishes alone for once?” 

Another sigh left his throat, when there was no answer. Of course no one would answer, because, for one, he no longer lived under the same roof as his parents anymore, and two, it was late at night already and every normal human being would be asleep by now. 

Now Hongjoong himself too questioned why he talked into nothingness, but ever since he addressed his flat’s own will to Yunho, he started to talk to the possible poltergeist, when Yunho had mentioned it. To be fair, Hongjoong didn’t believe in ghost stories, but he let his friend be when he seemed excited about the possibility and it honestly felt a little relieving to hold onto some sort of explanation, when he couldn’t explain why his electronic devices distorted without any reason, why his dishes fell to the ground out of their own will and the weird whirlwind that made its way through his room even when the widows were shut and the air conditioner was off. 

Hongjoong didn’t expect much from the cheap apartment he started to rent a few months ago, but a ghost certainly wasn’t in the description when he signed the contract. 

He sighed once more when he grabbed his dustpan and brush for the umptheened time - they were probably his most used objects after his laptop now - and he started to clean the mess, “You know I work hard to pay for these,” he said referring to the shattered glass, “And since I last checked I didn’t have a roommate on rampage all the time…” 

Maybe it was the sleepless nights that caught up to him, his study and work getting to his head, making him hallucinate all this. Yet waking up after short hours of sleep and finding his trash can filled with fragments of what used to be his favorite mug or something, made it feel awfully real. 

If there really was a poltergeist he hosted in his tiny flat, it didn’t really spook him that much. He wasn’t afraid of ghosts. But sometimes it did creep him out that there could be someone watching him while he was stark naked in the shower… that’s quite some stalkerish behavior if you asked Hongjoong, especially since his showers sometimes turned an icy cold. 

“I hope you’ve had your fun for today…,” Hongjoong mumbled, when he emptied his dustpan in the trash can, before he yawned. 

Maybe it was time to turn in for the night… that song can wait for tomorrow… or later that day? Hongjoong shook his head; he really needed some much needed time of turning in and closing his eyes. 

“You’ll sleep on the floor as usual,” he said waving off to the invisible, “Good night, if you do sleep.”

Hongjoong’s hand hovered over the lightswitch when the light turned itself off even before he could touch it. A little bit startled, Hongjoong looked over his shoulder into his living room. Nobody was there and a light shiver went down his spine, “T-thank you, I guess.” 

Yeah… he really needed some sleep, Hongjoong thought to himself and he beelined past the bathroom to go straight to his bed, not bothering to properly turn off his equipment set up on his desk, his laptop gone into sleep mode as well. 

-

“You should really get your apartment checked by some ghostbuster or something?” Yunho thought out loud, while they sat on the campus ground with their just bought lunch, when Hongjoong told him about last night. 

“They’re called Medium,” Hongjoong corrected him, before taking a sip from his hot coffee. 

“So you did consider it?” Yunho jabbed him in his side, carefully not to let him spill his coffee all over himself. 

Hongjoong sighed, while Yunho laughed, “It sounds ridiculous enough already to say that there might be a ghost in my flat, but I’m not actually gonna hire a Medium if that’s what you’re thinking. _It_ may be in peace as long as it doesn’t disturb my workflow or recordings. Besides, it’s all jackshit anyways and you know it! And they’ll charge way too much for whatever they’re gonna do to my flat!” He ended with a pout on his lips. 

Yunho laughed a little more, before he asked a more serious question, “But it doesn’t happen when you’re asleep?” 

Hongjoong thought deep, “Mostly when I’m awake or when I’ve slept through my alarm…” 

“That’s weird though,” his friend hummed and they were both silent for a little while, before a smirk made its way onto Yunho’s lips, “Or it’s just the force of the universe trying to tell you to actually start unpacking your stuff.”

“Yunho-ya!” Hongjoong whined and Yunho started to laugh once more, almost spilling his own coffee in the process, “when do I even have the time to do that?! Uni has already started and I’m overflowing with work that I need to finish before the given deadlines!”

“You know you could just ask Mingi and me to help you with that,” Yunho cocked his eyebrow at him, “We’ll be done before you know it.”

“I can’t ask you for that,” Hongjoong said, “You’re busy too!”

“Yah Kim Hongjoong, we’ve been friends for a long time now, I do think that this is more important that an unfinished choreography,” Yunho rebutted, “Besides, I can improvise something when needed anyways.”

It sounded a little cocky and now it was Hongjoong’s turn to jab his friend in his side.

-

Search results for the term: _Poltergeist_

**Help my house is haunted! What Should I do?**

Click here for several methods to expel ghosts...

**Poltergeist - Wikipedia**

**It feels like there’s someone in my home. Could it be a poltergeist?**

**Knock knock, is there a ghost in here?**

Hongjoong wanted to slap himself back to reality when he read the results google gave him. Why in hell was he searching for this? There wasn’t a ghost in his apartment. He just wasn’t careful and there must be a strong wind on this floor. Yeah, that must be the right explanation. 

So, why did Hongjoong find himself googling about poltergeists?

Maybe he just wanted it to be over with, to know for sure that he or his flat weren’t being haunted. He’d read some articles that these poltergeist phenomena could be explained as mere illusions, memory lapses or wishful thinking. Which was supported by his evident lack of sleep, but that wasn’t really reassuring either… 

In the process of finding more information, the internet did confirm that poltergeists were indeed responsible for physical disturbance, such as loud noises - mostly knocking sounds - or objects being moved or destroyed. Check. It stated that they were also capable of pinching, biting, hitting or tripping people, which luckily hadn’t happened yet.

It did fascinate him how the invisible creatures could touch the physical world, which got him scrolling down google for more information. 

He came across some explanation about them being a form of energy, which can be felt like a human presence. It wasn’t possible to touch them, but it was possible to feel their aura, which could feel really cold and resulted in giving people the shivers. That is why most poltergeist phenomena could also be explained as telekinesis. 

Hongjoong frowned at his screen. Even though he didn’t want to believe this, it did sound somewhat legit.

Furthermore Hongjoong just found articles that tried to scare people. Telling them that the ghosts rather haunted people over locations and that they existed to torment their victims. Which could support his argument that he wasn’t being haunted, because these weird things only happened in his flat. Otherwise he just got lucky that this spirit wasn’t violent… 

“Say, do you perhaps like me?” Hongjoong asked the invisible. 

No answer. And Hongjoong laughed at his own stupidity, when the lights started to flicker for a moment. 

“You know, it would have been really convenient if you could speak to me in morse code,” Hongjoong thought out loud.

Yeah… he definitely needed some sleep.

-

“Hongjoong-hyung, where do you want these?” Mingi asked, when he came up to him and Yunho, who tried to fix an Ikea bookshelf. He held two boxes in his hands, which had two really expensive microphones in it.

The older promptly stood up from his position and gestured for Mingi to hand those over to him, “Oh, give those to me, I need them in my room.”

“You can’t possibly stack all of those in your bedroom, Hongjoong,” Yunho lifted an eyebrow, when he noticed that it was yet some other package that belonged to his music equipment collection.

“How can you even pay for all this fancy stuff,” Mingi looked after Hongjoong, when he moved the boxes next to his desk in the other room.

“I just saved a lot,” Hongjoong shrugged.

“And spent too much time abandoning your friends…,” Yunho pouted, referring to Hongjoong’s impossible time schedule. 

Hongjoong laughed awkwardly at that. Sure, he saw Yunho and Mingi at the campus quite often and at least once a day, but after lectures he either spent time working in the closest music shop - where he could buy his equipment with a employee’s discount - or locked up inside his flat, working on whatever song he had on his mind that day. There were also days Hongjoong needed to attend some family business, but luckily those got less frequent. Especially now he had a place of his own. 

After Yunho had suggested helping Hongjoong settle down properly, a week had already passed by. The night before Hongjoong had tripped over a box filled with undone furniture when an unexpected gush of cold wind hit him in the back and had him finally deciding that it was time to fix this mess he’d lived in for the past couple of months. 

But aside from that, this apartment gave him trust issues, since the sensation before he tripped, clearly felt like someone just shoved him in the back. And he definitely didn’t want to break a bone or two in the near future or ever at all. 

So he took a day off from work and asked for his friends to come over, promising them dinner would be on him. 

Mingi hadn’t been in his apartment until then, while Yunho had, since the taller out of the too wasn’t a jumpy scaredy cat, when Hongjoong told about the haunted situation he lived in. And when he had opened the door to them, Mingi had clinged onto Yunho for at least twenty minutes of nothing out of the ordinary happening. 

“I asked him to be considerate today,” Hongjoong had joked about the possible ghost he harbored in his flat when Mingi unstuck himself from Yunho’s side.

“Not funny,” Mingi had mumbled, before he downed this instant coffee situation Hongjoong had offered him in a mug without an ear. 

Right after a short welcome, the three students had started on Hongjoong’s mess in peace. 

“Hyung, I’m not really sure about this,” Yunho mumbled more to himself then to the older, when he took in the sight of the bookshelf they were working on, “Are you sure we’re not missing anything from the box?”

“Dunno?” Hongjoong shrugged when he came back from his bedroom, which had Yunho come up from his crouched down position to make his way over to the abandoned box on the other side of the living room. 

However, what he didn’t expect to happen was to be shoved in the back, putting him off balance to land rather ungracefully in Mingi’s lab, which had both of them crashing to the ground. 

“Yah Yunho! What the hell!” Mingi cried out when he luckily had fallen on an empty cardboard box. 

For a moment Yunho looked really confused and it had him unresponsive, which honestly had both Hongjoong and Mingi a little bit worried. 

“Hey, Yunho?” Mingi tried again when the other on top of him just stared into the nothingness behind him, before his face contorted into a somewhat annoyed expression. 

“It felt like someone pushed me,” he finally said. 

“S-someone pushed you?” Mingi blurted out confused, “Are you sure you didn’t trip over your own socks?”

“Mingi, I have a great balance, thank you,” he pouted, “I know it when someone pushes me. I literally felt hands on my back.”

Hongjoong long knew by now what was happening and he sighed, “I’m sorry in advance for my flat’s further behavior.”

Yunho nodded, having experienced a few of it’s cranks already, but never had it turned violent towards him. At least Hongjoong hadn’t _told_ him it could be violent towards people or if it had been violent towards him. 

Mingi groaned underneath Yunho and let his head fall back down on the cardboard, “Please, hyung, just tell me this is a prank and you pushed Yunho…”

“How could hyung possibly have touched me, when he was on the other side of the room?” Yunho questioned and Mingi let out another groan.

“Well at least we now know that the box was indeed empty,” Hongjoong referred jokingly to the box the duo had fallen on in the process to brighten the mood a little. 

“Empty my ass!” Mingi yelled, “I feel at least one package - of whatever’s very pointy and could perforate me - stab my back!”

The three of them laughed at that and Yunho finally lifted his weight from Mingi to retrieve what he was looking for. 

The rest of the afternoon and evening went by really fast and at least half of the boxes stacked in his apartment were cleaned up. By ten in the evening his flat had a decent dinner table with four chairs, a bookshelf stacked with the books Mingi had unpacked and a coffee table. There were still some major Ikea construction boxes, for example his couch and the tv cabinet, but Yunho and Mingi had promised to help him with those another time. 

After the incident the poltergeist had mostly left them alone, except for some minor things like flickering lights and teasingly making the books, which Mingi had placed carefully on the shelf, topple to the ground every once in a while.

“Hyung, why did we spend hours unpacking when we should have spent time looking for a new apartment,” Mingi eventually whined when the lights flickered once more. 

Both Hongjoong and Yunho laughed a little, but the three of them knew all too well how expensive living on your own was and Mingi and Yunho even shared an apartment. This was Hongjoong’s cheapest option even if he had to keep up with the weirdness it held. 

“Just sell one of those mics and buy a decent house or something,” Mingi proposed, which had Hongjoong’s face going into an offended expression, before the three of them laughed at the impossible. 

Never. 

-

Not long after the duo left, Hongjoong found himself behind his desk working on a new project, which at the moment had him frowning where his music program innocently stared back at him. For the four hours that followed he had been working on a suiting melody for after the pre-chorus he’d come up with, but nothing seemed to work well. It would be really convenient if a melody would just pop up in his head, but his inspiration seemed to have drained to the point he only got tongue tied and he just blepped into the microphone. 

With a sigh he leaned back into his chair, staring past his screen, his eyes unfocused just like his mind. Suddenly his headphones felt way too tight on his head and he could feel the slightest headache coming up. 

He looked at the clock and saw that it was yet again about three in the morning already. He never got a hold of time when he spent it on his music and he had long accepted there was nothing to do about that other than explain it as passion, when Yunho would’ve descripted it as a problem.

Hongjoong couldn’t really blame him, since his friend’s long limbs wouldn’t fit in these tiny flats for him to go through a full choreography and rehearse over and over again, like he would have done in the school’s studios. But it wasn’t that Yunho didn’t spend that time gaming… 

“Time for a break,” he mumbled to himself.

When he made his way to the kitchen to get something refreshing, he wondered if Yunho was still awake playing games like Hongjoong accused him of. While he opened the kitchen window he considered checking if Yunho was still online to join for one last round. Maybe that would give him some inspiration and fuel him to pull an all-nighter and get that song over with. 

After he got himself a glass of water, he turned himself away from the kitchen, leaning a little out of the small window frame to fill his lungs with whatever he called fresh air mixed with the toxic smells of the nightlife underneath his windowsill. 

It was a Monday night and the city of Seoul didn’t seem that lively tonight. Maybe everyone partied too hard on the weekend or it was just the ordinary fact that it was the first exhausting day of the week. It didn’t bother Hongjoong that much though. Less traffic or drunk teenagers and tourists out there to ruin his recordings.

Hongjoong took one last deep breath before he retreated to his workspace once more, only to find his program recording.

He cocked an eyebrow at the screen, “Must have pressed the record button by accident,” he mumbled to himself, but when he looked at the recording there was something that gave him the shivers. 

It had been silent in his flat. 

No loud sounds except for his tap filling a glass with water and a soft breeze that entered through his kitchen window. 

Hongjoong looked at the settings on his interface and in his music program, but it couldn’t have picked up the sound of the wind _that_ loud with how low the volume and input settings were. 

What in the hell had made such a loud noise all the while Hongjoong was in his kitchen that it could produce these high waves?! 

Curiously, Hongjoong put on his headphones and pressed play, but the hairs on the back of his neck immediately stood up. 

He heard a voice. 

A voice that wasn’t his.

Hongjoong sat frozen in his chair as he listened to a strange distorted sounding voice singing to the song Hongjoong had just made… 

His eyes widened, before he hastily grabbed his phone and dialed Yunho’s number.

“Thank god you're still awake!” he yelled when his friend picked up.

“Hongjoong, it’s half past three,” Yunho’s voice sounded rough and sleepy when he answered.

“Oh, shut it, I know you’ve been up playing games!” Hongjoong yelled through the speaker when a soft voice murmured ‘I was just asleep though…’, but now wasn’t the time to go on about that, “You need to come right now!”

“What why?” Yunho sounded a little more awake when he responded, definitely noticing the distress in Hongjoong’s voice. 

“You were right,” Hongjoong answered.

“Right about what?” Yunho asked, confused.

“You _are_ right,” Hongjoong corrected himself, “there is a ghost in my flat and it’s fucking creeping me out right now!”

“Calm down, hyung,” Yunho said and he heard some ruffling on bedsheets being flung to the sides, “I’m on my way, give me twenty minutes.”

Hongjoong hummed in response.

“Do you want me to stay on the phone with you?” He asked, before Hongjoong could hear another voice on Yunho’s end of the connection murmur something to him. Mingi must have woken up to Hongjoong’s call. He heard how Yunho reassured Mingi that he’ll be back in the morning and hushed him back to sleep. 

“Hongjoong?” Yunho asked once more.

Uh right, staying on the phone?

“No, that’s not necessary, just hurry up,” Hongjoong said and Yunho agreed before the line went dead.

Okay...

Hongjoong stared at the recording on his screen, before he reluctantly put his head phones back on his head. He must be sure that he wasn’t hallucinating due to lack of sleep, but the same distorted voice that gave him the heebie-jeebies could be heard. 

Even though it was scary as fuck, Hongjoong had to admit that the ghost was quite on point. He tried to listen past the creepy distortion and it sounded on pitch and rhythmically correct. It surprised him even when there was a new part after the pre-chorus he had written. A chorus for his song. 

_“No that won’t work…,”_ Hongjoong’s eyes widened when the voice stopped singing, rather talking to himself as he tried to come up with another melody and the rest of that recording was just that voice improvising and mumbling to itself, until Hongjoong came in and the recording stopped. 

It was a male voice, that much Hongjoong could tell. And a young one at that. 

Hongjoong looked around in his small workspace meets bedroom, but he saw no one, “At least you got a nice voice for some rascal.” 

_“Like I can help that it’s freaking boring like this.”_

Hongjoong’s head jerked to the side to look at his music program still fully on, just as his microphone was still plugged in correctly.

“‘D-doesn’t give you permission to wreak havoc on my dishes,” he stuttered a little when he answered hesitantly. 

It was silent after that for a little while and Hongjoong thought he was really going crazy, before he heard some distorted cracks through his head phones once more.

 _“You can really hear me?”_ the voice asked.

Hongjoong nodded. 

_“You aren’t playing tricks on me right?”_

Hongjoong shook his head, “Why in the world would I play tricks on you?! For all I know you’re one of my neighbors pulling a prank on me. Now, well done if that is the case.” 

_“If that were the case…,”_ the voice sounded sad this time, but it manned up real quick, _“well, congratulations on your awakening then, I guess?”_

“Awakening?” Hongjoong asked confused.

 _“T_ o _your sixth sense thingy. Being able to hear ghosts et cetera.”_

That wasn’t the case though. Hongjoong wasn’t sure how it worked and maybe it was a wrong system setting in his program, but _that_ was the reason why he could actually hear someone from the afterlife. 

“It’s a little more complicated than that though,” Hongjoong laughed awkward, “Uhm, where are you by the way, I’m kind of confused as to where I need to look.”

_“Right in front of you, on your bed.”_

Hongjoong nodded, “And you really are… uhm,” he didn’t dare to finish that sentence, but the ghost did.

 _“As dead as a doornail,”_ and that sounded way too upbeat for Hongjoong’s liking.

“That is unfortunate,” Hongjoong said, not really knowing how to respond to that.

 _“It kinda is, isn’t it… not really anything to do about it though,”_ Hongjoong almost heard the guy shrug. 

“May I ask how old you are?” Hongjoong then asked.

 _“Would have turned twenty one this year,”_ the voice answered and Hongjoong suddenly felt really nauseous, _“I think I died a little less than two years ago, I guess. I don’t really know actually. Time is a weird concept here.”_

The chuckle at the end of that sentence was a sad one and Hongjoong could feel tears prick behind his eyes. He never really was _that_ emotional, but he guessed that the lack of sleep in combination with this weird roller coaster ride got to him now. Aside from that though, it must be horrible to let life slip through your fingers at such a young age. 

It really _was_ unfortunate. 

“May I know your name?” Hongjoong then asked, swallowing the lump in his throat. 

_“Choi San,”_ he answered, _“Or that was how my parents in my last life named me, if that’s how I’m supposed to speak about myself now? I haven’t talked to anyone since forever and never have I ever met another ghost who told me how to behave here…”_

“Is it okay if I call you San then?” Hongjoong asked.

 _“Depends,”_ he said.

“Why?”

 _“How old are_ you _?”_ San asked.

And now Hongjoong got the hang of his question and laughed a little, “You can call me hyung, if that’s anything to go by.” And he heard and affirmative noise. 

_“You don’t seem that scared of me,”_ San stated, _“You never seemed.”_

Hongjoong nodded, “I didn’t really believe in ghosts, you know. Maybe you’ve overheard that before.”

_“Yeah, heard you talk about that with your friend Yunho, he’s the one you just called, right?”_

Hongjoong nodded once more, “He’s on his way to here, don’t worry he’s nice.”

 _“I know. I’ve seen you two interact multiple times,”_ San answered with that sad tone once more. 

They were silent for a while, before Hongjoong finally came to his senses, “Yah, you’ve been terrorizing my apartment for like three months or so! You broke my dishes, ruined my books, pranked me with my lighting and you’ve probably watched me while naked, you pervert!” 

Hongjoong expected some sort of excuse, but the only thing he heard was bright, squeaky laughter.

“You even turned the water cold…,” he pouted. 

_“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I couldn’t help but mess around a little. There wasn’t really anything to do and I kinda liked your reactions,_ ” San answered, _“But I promise I’ve never seen you naked!”_

Hongjoong smiled at that, before his expression made a straight out flatline when San said, _“Can’t get turned on anymore now anyways.”_

“Yah, you pervert!” And Hongjoong threw his neck cushion in San’s direction.

 _“You know you can’t hit me, right?”_ San teased and Hongjoong could hear the smirk on his face.

“Just let me live in the illusion I hit you,” and it downright horrified Hongjoong what was actually happening. 

-

Not much later a soaked Yunho sat panting and all on Hongjoong’s bed, apparently situated besides San, since the ghost had squealed when he almost sat _on_ him.

“So your telling me that there is indeed a poltergeist in your apartment that goes by the name Choi San?” Yunho asked one more time and Hongjoong nodded eagerly.

“And right now he’s sitting right besides me?” Again Hongjoong nodded. 

“He’s the one that pushed me?” Yunho asked, looking next to him at the seemingly empty bed.

“Yeah, he said he’s sorry about that,” and Yunho gaped at Hongjoong once more. 

“May I say that I’m a little bit overwhelmed?” he finally added.

“Tell me,” Hongjoong relaxed in his desk chair.

 _“It’s okay,”_ San’s voice finally sounded through the speakers Hongjoong had installed instead of his single headset. He had asked for the ghost to make himself at home on his bed, while he had situated his microphone in front of him or at least he hoped that he had aimed correctly. 

_“This is rather odd to me as well_ , _”_ he confirmed. 

“So what do we do now with this knowledge?” Yunho asked. 

“I have no idea,” Hongjoong’s head rested in his hands from exhaustion. His lean fingers covering most of his face, while dark eyes peaked through the openings in between to look at the spot San was supposed to be. 

_“Me neither,”_ San added. 

“You’re not of much help now, are you?” Yunho chuckled, “Aren’t people’s souls supposed to pass on to the afterlife or reincarnate or something like that?”

 _“Look, I thought that was supposed to happen as well, but it didn’t, and now I’m stuck in Hongjoong-hyung’s apartment,”_ he complained. 

Yunho lifted an eyebrow at Hongjoong when he heard the formality the voice spoke with. 

_“Maybe I’m not done here or something like that?”_ he suggested, _“You know, like in those stupid ghost stories?”_

“I’m not sure it works like that?” Yunho pouted, obviously thinking about the possibility and Hongjoong was so glad for his open minded friend to be here. 

_“Well, me neither, but maybe it’s worth a shot,”_ San probably shrugged. 

“Can you think of anything unresolved in your last life?” Yunho asked, trying to join forces to help the ghost. 

_“Not that I can really think of,”_ he thought out loud, _“I lived a rather peaceful life? I lived with my parents and sister - and we had a cat, I had a couple of friends, I worked in a cafe and was supposed to go to uni.”_

“What kind of study?” Yunho asked, even though he knew he was entering dangerous grounds, because sometimes it was better to be oblivious to some things.

 _“Dance and performance art,_ ” San answered and it had both Yunho and Hongjoong pale a little. That was the same study Yunho had started the same year San was supposed to have started… they probably would have been classmates. 

Hongjoong looked over at Yunho, who swallowed thickly and nodded. 

_“I know you're doing the same study I was supposed to do,”_ San went on _, “I overheard you plenty enough…”_

“I’m sorry,” Yunho said.

 _“Nothing to be sorry about!”_ San huffed, _“It isn’t like it’s your fault I died.”_

“May I ask you how you died?” Hongjoong then asked, giving Yunho some room to comprehend the just given knowledge. 

_“I got shot through the heart.”_

“You got what now?” Yunho blurted out.

 _“There, at the front door, I got shot through the heart,”_ he repeated himself. 

“At random?” Yunho asked yet another question. 

A few seconds went by in silence before San answered, _“To be honest, I don’t think I’ve seen his face properly… I do know that it was a man and his voice sounded familiar, but I died before I knew who he was…”_

“So you think it was targeted?” Yunho asked for confirmation and San hummed.

 _“I-I can’t think of anyone wanting to kill me so desperately,”_ he said, _“as far as I know I didn’t do anything wrong! And neither did I do drugs!”_

The three of them laughed a little at San’s last words, before they got back to the serious conversation.

“Do you perhaps know if the guy got arrested?” Yunho asked.

 _“No,”_ San answered _, “I’ve been locked up in this building since I passed. I had no access to newspapers or the internet, since this flat had been uninhabited since I died. Hongjoong-hyung was the first one to hire after me.”_

“Must have been lonely,” Yunho mumbled. 

_“Yeah…,”_ San confirmed, _“And it wasn’t like hyung knew about my existence, so there was no way he would search for my name in google or something, I did see some other stuff though…”_

“Yah, that’s not important right now!” Hongjoong finally found his tongue when he got accused of obscure activities and Yunho shot him a nasty smirk. 

_“Just kidding,”_ San joked, _“I honestly questioned for a while if you really had internet connection on your laptop, since you’re mostly just making music.”_

Hongjoong huffed, “You know that’s invading of someone’s privacy.”

 _“Hyung~ it is the only exciting thing that happens when you’re home and it’s not like you knew about me until just half an hour ago,”_ he could hear San pout.

“Didn’t do a good job in keeping it a secret then,” Hongjoong teased a little. 

Yunho on the other hand still had a thoughtful expression on his face, definitely thinking about what to do with all this information, “Hey, why don’t we call it a night and go to sleep, since we now know you’re not an evil poltergeist. That way we’ll have some energy to find out about your murder tomorrow?” Whatever those two hours of sleep they had left were going to mean to them. Maybe Hongjoong could get an extra hour out of it, but Yunho still needed to head back to his own flat in the morning. 

Hongjoong hummed in confirmation, “You can sleep in my bed, since you probably won’t fit on the couch.”

“You mean the couch that’s still in boxes?” Yunho cocked an eyebrow at Hongjoong, “We’ll both fit in your bed, if you’re okay with that?”

 _“Besides, the couch is mine,”_ San butted in.

Yunho looked rather confused, but Hongjoong just didn’t feel like explaining that too right now. Because he had promised San one time that he could sleep on the couch once it was installed in his living room… it had been a sleep drunk ramble right before he went to bed, but of course he wouldn’t have thought that those words would be heard _and_ remembered.

“I’ll leave the program on,” Hongjoong said to San, “If something’s wrong we can hear you.”

San hummed as they both watched how Yunho already made himself at home in the corner of Hongjoong’s bed. Never had Hongjoong expected for such a tall man to look so small and it was kind of endearing when it seemed he couldn’t keep his eyes open anymore. 

“Uhm, I don’t really know how it works for you, but good night I guess,” Hongjoong said searching for San.

 _“I’m still on your bed,”_ San’s voice sounded loud and clear through the distortion and he watched how a shiver climbed up Yunho’s body as he murmured something among the lines ‘it’s kinda cold hyung.’

 _“You too, a good night,”_ San said, before Hongjoong replaced his microphone to a more convenient place and dropped himself next to Yunho with a smile.

“I’m really glad I didn’t bring Mingi,” Yunho mumbled before his breath evened out and Hongjoong pictured himself the same situation, which got him falling asleep with slightly curled up lips. 

-

_Bang!_

-

When Hongjoong woke up it was to Yunho’s yet rough voice sounding from afar, “Se-uh, hear you later San! Make sure Hongjoong doesn’t sleep through his alarm.”

 _“Yes!”_ Hongjoong cringed when San’s chirpy yet distorted voice sounded through his surround sound system. 

So last night wasn’t a dream. Hongjoong recalled the event and his head fell back on his pillow while he groaned. He closed his eyes, trying to save himself from an upcoming yet inevitable headache. 

After the weird finding that he actually could communicate with a ghost that had been stuck in his flat for about more than a year, Hongjoong had a really restless sleep. He dreamed about being shot himself, when he opened his front door, blood pouring out of his chest when he collapsed to the ground. The echo of a gunshot ringing through his head until he woke up. 

And there were two things that really unsettled him. Unlike San, he did see a face before his head hit the ground. A face painfully familiar, which brought horrible memories back to the surface. The face he desperately wanted to forget… 

Luckily for him, the guy ran off before another person came into view. A boy frantically calling out for him. Or rather for Choi San. It was an almost out of body experience when he stood behind the body that had fallen to the ground and someone had rushed up to them crying like a mad man and begging someone to call an ambulance, which it was obviously far too late for. But the way the voice cried out was just heart wrenching and Hongjoong didn’t know if he could listen to it any longer than he already had. 

He guessed that it was someone close to San or maybe it was just his own mind making up how the situation must have looked like with the information he had gotten last night. Either way he cursed at his imagination being this wild and lively to the point he could feel dried up tear streaks on his face. 

Hongjoong rubbed in his eyes, trying to forget what he’d dreamed when a soft voice beamed through his speakers.

 _“You’re awake?”_ San suddenly asked as Hongjoong groaned once more, _“I take that as a yes. Good morning hyung, Yunho just left.”_

“I heard,” Hongjoong’s morning voice sounded raspy and he tried to look up to where he situated the microphone so he could ‘look’ at San, only to find out that his mic wasn’t there anymore. 

_“Oh, Yunho has moved the mic to your kitchen for a little bit, when he poured himself some coffee,”_ he sounded from afar this time, _“I’m actually right next to your bed right now.”_

“Thanks for the heads up,” Hongjoong said actually wide awake now, since he almost had an heart attack for the disappearance of his microphone. 

_“He made some for you too,”_ San added, _“And one for me… just… because he’s nice.”_

A fond smile curled up Hongjoong’s lips, since that really sounded like something stupid Yunho would do, even though he knew San would never be able to finish it, let alone touch it. 

_“Did you sleep well?”_ San then asked when Hongjoong made his way towards his kitchen, careful not to trip over the cord attached to his mic.

“Not very different from every other night,” Hongjoong said without thinking twice. 

_“I’ve noticed,”_ San said, _“You don’t sleep much, do you?”_

Hongjoong shook his head. 

_“I mean your songs are great and I could literally see how much time you spend on them,”_ San said _, “I really like them and I would’ve loved to dance to them, you know…”_

Hongjoong gave a pitiful smile to his microphone, while he let his small hands clasp around the warmth of his coffee mug.

 _“You must be getting straight A’s for your hard work!”_ San said dreamily, but that statement came crashing down on Hongjoong’s reality pretty hard. 

“It’s a little more complicated than that though,” Hongjoong sighed.

 _“Oh, why’s that?”_ San asked and he imagined big doe eyes like Yunho’s looking at him from behind the microphone and he immediately felt really awkward. 

Hongjoong wasn’t somebody who shared everything with just anyone. He would like to get to know someone first, before he spoke about himself and even then it was difficult for him to talk about himself. The only two people he really spoke to about himself were Yunho and Mingi, because he knew he could trust them since he’d known them before his brother’s acting career had blown up out of proportions. 

It was just one quite ordinary drama that blew up and his brother had a big part in it, but the audience loved it to the moon and back. They loved his brother to the moon and back. And soon after everything that came with fame reached their household. 

Hongjoong hated it. He hated his brother’s fame that projected onto his family. Onto him. Don’t get him wrong he loved his parents and his brother like he’d always done, but he despised the press and weird photographers that kept following him wherever he went. And it irritated him whenever he got calls from his brother’s manager informing him about some weird rumor he was in. Of course, he understood that his brother had an idol image he had to maintain now, but Hongjoong wondered if he just couldn’t call the whole thing off _his_ back. 

_That_ was the main reason he decided to leave his household with any given chance. _That_ was the reason why he worked hard to pay the rent. _That_ was the reason why he didn’t like to leave his flat that much and lost himself to the music. 

And since everyone knew about his existence, his teachers had been really hard on him, under the impression that they needed to teach Hongjoong a lesson that he couldn’t buy anything by using his brother’s fame… Hongjoong hated that was the reason behind his lower grades whenever he made a song he was really proud of. 

Plus the fact that he could never make a name for himself, since he was already known as _that_ younger brother from _that_ famous actor. 

_“If you don’t wanna talk about it that’s fine,_ ” San suddenly said when it took somewhat longer for Hongjoong to respond, _“But, I mean, it’s not like I’ll be able to gossip around about it.”_

“Yeah, you’re right,” Hongjoong said, “I’m just still a little uncomfortable about all this.”

 _“‘Can imagine,”_ San said, taking their situation in consideration, _“Does it help if you have a face to look at?”_

Hongjoong supposedly looked at San with a confused expression. 

_“Yunho asked what I looked like before I passed,”_ San went on _, “So I guessed that there would be a picture of me still on the internet. My instagram was taken down, but there were still some photos of me on my friend’s insta.”_

Hongjoong grabbed his phone, which apparently had been in his pocket all night and he unlocked it. At first he had thought about asking San what he looked like, but he soon opposed the idea, since it would only lead to him getting emotionally attached to him, which really wasn’t supposed to happen, because San was already dead. 

But of course Jeong Yunho wouldn’t think about that… that was just how he was.

 _“Jung Wooyoung,”_ San said, _“That’s my friend’s name.”_

Still Hongjoong did as San proposed as he typed the name into the search bar and clicked on the profile the ghost had pointed out. At first Hongjoong took note that there were a lot of photos of Wooyoung himself, being it with a lot of other people or just an ordinary selfie. And in almost every picture he looked so happy. A big grin plastered over his whole expression. 

Except for one photo.

 _“That photo was taken the day of the burial,”_ San explained when he saw how Hongjoong’s gaze lingered over that photo, _“Yunho showed me already, the next one has me in it.”_

Hongjoong scrolled to the next photo which had two guys in it. One being Wooyoung with the biggest smile he’d seen yet and the other was Choi San. 

“So that’s what you look like,” Hongjoong mumbled, more to himself than San, while he zoomed in on his face. San had dark black messy hair in this picture and it covered his forehead down to his eyebrows. He had small fox-like eyes peeking through some longer strands of hair, since he seemed to be laughing. He had a somewhat bigger nose and pouty lips that curled up at the corners. He looked slender and he had an outstanding jawline, which would have been deemed sexy if it weren’t for his cute cat-like appearance. 

_“It was our anniversary that day,”_ San added, which had Hongjoong a little flustered.

“Y-you were dat-?!“ But he got cut off by San.

 _“Noo~,”_ he whined, _“Yunho asked the same. No, it was our friendship’s anniversary; Amicus ad Aras!”_

“Whatever that may mean,” Hongjoong looked up confused. 

_“It is a promise,”_ San said, _“It means something among the lines; together till the end. I guess I didn’t fulfill that promise…”_

“I’m sorry,” Hongjoong said. 

_“No, don’t be,”_ San said a little louder, _“It is sad, yes, but it isn’t your fault. I just hope Young-ah is still happy even without me.”_

That was something rather selfish to wish, when Hongjoong took in the photo of them both. They honestly seemed so happy that it softened and hurt Hongjoong’s heart at the same time. 

_“But enough sappy stuff,”_ San said, _“That’s what I look like, so now you know what to picture in your head when you’re talking to me.”_

“Yeah, thank you.”

-

Not long after breakfast Hongjoong needed to leave for his daily lectures. He promised San he would come back right after and he turned on the TV on a channel San liked so he wouldn’t be bored out of his mind all day. 

After his first lecture, Hongjoong actually questioned himself why he bothered to go to his lectures that day. His head was all fuzzy and there was no way he could keep his mind set on his study. He could only think about San. 

Halfway through his second lecture, Hongjoong grabbed his stuff and went to sit outside in the fresh air to clear his mind a little bit, before he would decide whether he should go home or go back inside. 

After some time, Hongjoong grabbed his phone and opened his instagram once more, before he found himself searching through Wooyoung’s story once more. After Wooyoung’s last photo with San, there was a whole collection of photos that only contained the two friends. There was one other guy that he occasionally came across, but most of the photos were of him and San. For all Hongjoong knew those two were actually dating… since they were _really_ affectionate in each picture. 

There was one video of the two Hongjoong stumbled upon. They did a cover dance of BTS’ Fake love and it honestly looked really impressive. They used professional camera angles and it was well edited, aside from their great performance. It ended with the two jumping in each other's arms when they’d run through the whole choreography without any mistakes. Hongjoong recognized San’s little squeal and high pitched laughter at the end matching up with a loud noise that closely resembled Sesame streets’ Elmo’s laughter. 

When Hongjoong scrolled further there was another video of the two at a party. No, rather a concert, a BTS concert at that. And he wondered which of the two or both were ARMY’s. It definitely put a smile on Hongjoong’s face, even though it was a sad one, when he heard Wooyoung blare along the lyrics that belonged to Spring day. 

However he shook awake, when a text notification popped up on his screen with a very present _ding_. In his startle he accidentally tapped the post twice which left a sole like on Wooyoung’s story. He shortly debated if he should unlike the post, but Wooyoung must have gotten the notification already, so he left it like that, before he opened his texts.

_Now_

**[Jeong Yunho; 12:03]**

_ Has send you an article _

_Hyung, I found this^_

**[Kim Hongjoong; 12:03]**

_What’s it about?_

**[Jeong Yunho; 12:03]**

_It’s a news article from about a year ago_

_It’s about San_

At the sight of that message Yunho got Hongjoong’s full attention. He must have been distracted too and Hongjoong guessed, knowing his friend, that he must have been digging for information about the case already. 

**[Jeong Yunho; 12:04]**

_It states that the case was rendered a suicide_

_But San said that it was someone else that shot him_

Hongjoong frowned at his screen. 

**[Kim Hongjoong; 12:04]**

_You’re sure?_

**[Jeong Yunho; 12:04]**

_One hundred percent!_

_I think we should let San read this_

_Ask if it resembles his last memory_

**[Kim Hongjoong; 12:04]**

_Are you sure we can rely on that?_

**[Jeong Yunho; 12:04]**

_I don’t know_

_But we can always try_

**[Kim Hongjoong; 12:04]**

_Try what?_

**[Jeong Yunho; 12:04]**

_Solve this case_

Hongjoong stared at the last text message in complete disbelief. What was Yunho thinking?! They weren’t detectives, let alone involved in this whole ordeal. Yes, there was a ghost in his flat, but this wasn’t a ghost story with an out written plot and happy ending! Besides, he didn’t feel like being featured on buzzfeed unsolved, or whatever the hell it was called, for solving a murder instead of being known for his music. 

And his brother’s company wouldn’t like either, because of the stupid contract he and his family had singed. Hongjoong had been fifteen at the time and he had no idea what was happening and neither had his parents. All of them knew nothing about the showbiz industry, which resulted in this stupid company tricking them into this contract which stated that they would take care of all the news that could reach the press. That included their say in what Hongjoong could do and what not and a big part of his freedom had been ripped from him. So even if Hongjoong wanted to solve this case, he couldn’t because of this contract and Yunho of all should know that.

But above all, there was the fact that there was literally a murderer Yunho wanted to go after!

**[Kim Hongjoong; 12:04]**

_Are you out of your mind Jeong Yunho?!_

**[Jeong Yunho; 12:04]**

_No?_

_I’m serious hyung_

_I wanna help San!_

**[Kim Hongjoong; 12:04]**

_There’s no guarantee you’ll help him_

_putting yourself in danger!_

**[Jeong Yunho; 12:04]**

_Hyung it’s not like I’m gonna run around town_

_and play the next super hero…_

_I just wanna solve this and when it gets too big_

_We’ll leave it to the police_

**[Kim Hongjoong; 12:04]**

_And you think they’ll believe you?_

**[Jeong Yunho; 12:04]**

_We could show them the evidence?_

**[Kim Hongjoong; 12:04]**

_What evidence?_

_And ‘we’?_

**[Jeong Yunho; 12:04]**

_The connection with San_

Hongjoong didn’t respond to that immediately.

**[Jeong Yunho; 12:05]**

_Look hyung_

_I understand why you don’t want to do this_

_But I really wanna help San_

**[Kim Hongjoong; 12:05]**

_Let’s talk about this with San first_

_Before we make a decision_

**[Jeong Yunho; 12:05]**

_Okay!_

-

Later that afternoon Hongjoong found himself at the kitchen table with Yunho and San.

After the chat he had with his friend, Hongjoong didn’t hesitate to skip the rest of his lectures, since his head was way too stuffed with other thoughts right now. And when he came home, it was to San’s happy voice.

 _“Yah, hyung, you’re home early? I thought you wouldn’t be home until late in the afternoon?”_

It had been long since anybody had greeted him when he came home and he had to admit that he’d missed the warm feeling of commitment that spread through his chest. His mother used to ask him about his day whenever he came home and he couldn’t suppress a smile when San seemed eager to know the answers to those questions as well. 

And to be fair he could get accustomed to this roommate concept they had right now. It didn’t seem that different from Yunho’s and Mingi’s situation with their small bickering about the mess Yunho sometimes left for Mingi to clean. Sharing his flat with San wasn’t that different… except for the fact that San didn’t have the appetite those two shared or took up extra space in his tiny flat with his stuff. 

“Couldn’t concentrate,” Hongjoong admitted, “So I came back.”

 _“‘Can imagine,”_ San hummed. 

“Yunho found an article about your death,” Hongjoong said as he dumped himself on one of the chairs in his kitchen, before he grabbed his phone to show San the article.

 _“Oh, it made the news? What does it say?”_ San asked and Hongjoong could almost feel how the younger leaned over his shoulder when he felt a cold aura breezing past his neck hairs. 

“It’s a short article about your suicide,” Hongjoong explained.

 _“Suicide?”_ San sounded confused and Hongjoong nodded, _“But I’ve been murdered?”_

“So you say,” Hongjoong says, “I’m a little confused too.”

 _“Does Wooyoung know it wasn’t suicide?!”_ This time San sounded a little more panicked.

“I don’t know San,” Hongjoong said, “I suppose not? I couldn’t find anything about it on his social media. And Yunho said that he couldn’t find anything about it other than this article.” 

_“He needs to know!”_ San said resolute, _“He’ll think stupid things like I wasn’t happy or something. It would hurt him, because I promised to always tell him everything.”_

“I’m sorry, San,” Hongjoong said. 

_“You need to tell him!”_

Excuse him? Hongjoong looked at his mic in disbelief. What did San think? He couldn’t just barge into some random person’s life and tell him that he lived in a flat haunted by his late best friend, who tried to communicate with them through his music program to tell him that he was murdered instead? That was ridiculous! They would think he had gone crazy! They would think a famous actor’s brother had gone insane due to the fame and he would ‘ruin’ his brother’s career! His own career!

 _“Please, hyung… I don’t want him to think I killed myself…,”_ his voice sounded so hurt and desperate. 

“Just let me think about it, San,” Hongjoong finally said, “Yunho will be here shortly, then we’ll talk about it.”

San hummed.

 _“Can we watch something until Yunho is here?”_ he asked in a tiny voice. 

“Sure, what do you wanna watch?”

 _“There was this detective drama that aired a few years ago, it was with Kim Hongseok,”_ San explained and Hongjoong knew which way this was heading, but he put his ego aside for a moment. If San wanted to watch _that_ then they were going to watch it. The sad thing about it though, was that Hongjoong couldn’t retreat to his workspace and work on another song, since San occupied his computer, so he had to sit this one through. 

The drama was about a detective apprentice solving an unsolved murder of the late baroness, who haunted the castle she had lived in, against all expectations. Hongjoong had seen the movie over a hundred times already, even the premiere in one of the biggest cinemas in Seoul. It made this situation even more ironic then it already was. 

Luckily it didn’t take long for Yunho to enter his flat with the spare key he had given him in case of emergency. They were just twenty minutes in, but Yunho had already recognized what was playing and cringed a little for Hongjoong.

That’s how they found themselves again at Hongjoong’s kitchen table.

“I want to help you,” Yunho offered, when they started about the article once more, “I mean I want to help you so you can peacefully pass on. In interest of helping Hongjoong and you.”

 _“So you’re willing to tell Wooyoung?”_ San asked, hopeful.

“When I have a lead on what happened, I’ll do that for you,” Yunho promised, “I don’t know how, but I hope to have at least some evidence by then.”

Hongjoong still thought it was ridiculous, but then again, it was so much like Yunho to do this. 

_“But what do you want to do then?”_ San asked.

“I know a hyung who’s willing to help us. His father works for the police. I mean, more than a year has already passed since the murder and it’s easier to trust your son than a stranger. If he doesn’t, we’ll need to find another way to get the information,” Yunho explained.

“Are implying what I think you are?” Hongjoong asked in disgrace of Yunho’s thought process, yet rather impressed that he came up with this much already, “You know stealing is illegal! You could get caught and locked away in prison for years! Are you completely nuts?!”

“I wasn’t implying on stealing, hyung~,” Yunho whined, “But I do have already looked up that the police have a lot of cold cases displayed publicly on their site. Most of them come with a reward, when someone helps them solve the case - but that’s not really important. If plan A doesn’t work, I just need them to reopen the case and hope they put their pre-work up there. That way it’s legal.”

“And how do you intend to do that?” Hongjoong asked.

“I’ll ask Wooyoung about it,” Yunho plainly said. 

“You’ve gone mad,” Hongjoong’s jaw went slack.

 _“Woah, that’s awesome!”_ San yelled.

“Mingi said so too,” Yunho laughed awkward.

“Which of the two?” Hongjoong asked skeptical.

“Depends on when…” 

Hongjoong sighed, “What do I do with you…?” 

“Trust,” Yunho said firm, “I promise I won’t do anything risky… or something I can get in real trouble for.” 

“Fine…,” Hongjoong gave in.

“Yeah!” both Yunho and San cheered in unison.

-

That night Hongjoong turned in early. 

Yunho had left a little before dinner time, since he’d promised to eat with Mingi and since Hongjoong wasn’t able to get absorbed in his music program with San having a monopoly on it right now, he guessed that this was the perfect timing to get some well deserved rest. His school work could wait for a little bit and he had already called off all his work for this week.

He was just scrolling through his phone when a notification popped up. 

An instagram notification.

From Jung Wooyoung…

Shit.

“San-ah!” Hongjoong yelled guessing that the other was somewhere else in the flat. 

_“I’m here,”_ he said, which wasn’t really helpful at all, _“I mean, in your desk chair next to the microphone. What’s up?”_

“Maybe you want to see this,” Hongjoong said gesturing for San to come over and he knew the younger was on his side when he felt the cold that made his neck hairs stand upright again. 

So he opened his instagram and clicked straight on his DM’s. There on top, both of them saw a notification next to Wooyoung’s profile picture and Hongjoong could hear San audible gasp, _“Click on it!”_ So he did.

**[Jung Wooyoung (WooSanie <3); 23:14]**

_Who are you?_

Both looked at the message, but San was the only one who spoke up, _“He still got that as his profile name.”_ And Hongjoong could hear him laugh, yet he wasn’t interested in that.

“Should I answer? He’s online right now,” Hongjoong noted. 

_“Of course!”_

**[Kim Hongjoong (MiniHong 8)); 23:15]**

_I’m Hongjoong_

_Hi_

_Nice to meet you :)_

_“That sounds kinda lame, hyung,_ ” San deadpanned, but Hongjoong hushed him when Wooyoung replied almost immediately. 

**[Jung Wooyoung (WooSanie <3); 23:15]**

_Why did you like my post?_

Of course that was what this was about…

 _“You liked one of his posts? Which one?”_ San asked, curious.

“The one where you were at the BTS concert singing along to Spring day,” Hongjoong explained, “But I tapped it by accident.”

 _“Ah that one…,”_ San sounded a little nostalgic, _“He’ll probably think you’re either a stalker or an ARMY.”_

“Yah~,” Hongjoong whined, “What should I answer then? He’s your best friend.”

 _“Was,”_ San corrected him, _“And just say you liked his singing voice or something. He likes compliments.”_

“Yeah, he’ll definitely I’m a stalker…,” but Hongjoong just did as San said. 

**[Kim Hongjoong (MiniHong 8)); 23:16]**

_I liked how you sang along?_

**[Jung Wooyoung (WooSanie <3); 23:16]**

_You sure you’re twenty-two as your bio says?_

_It sure takes you a long time to respond…_

San laughs when he reads Wooyoung’s quick response, _“Yeah, you’re right, he definitely thinks you’re a stalker now!”_ And Hongjoong ignored him as he tried to repair what was already beyond savior.

**[Kim Hongjoong (MiniHong 8)); 23:16]**

_I’m just a little bit overwhelmed by a stranger suddenly DM-ing me_

**[Jung Wooyoung (WooSanie <3); 23:16]**

_I am not shy to ask a stranger why he liked my post_

_And stop the pretending already_

_I know who you are_

_I just want to know why famous Kim Hongseok’s younger brother would like my post_

_“Huh?”_ Hongjoong could hear San’s confusion when his own blood ran cold, _“What is he talking about hyung?”_

“I didn’t think he would know…,” Hongjoong murmured more to himself than to San.

 _“Whaa cool! Why didn’t you say so when we watched his movie this afternoon?”_ The ghost asked. 

“No it’s not cool…,” Hongjoong growled and he felt San backing off even though he couldn’t hurt him, “It’s rather just a pain in the ass.” And San didn’t ask further when Wooyoung send a question mark.

**[Jung Wooyoung (WooSanie <3); 23:18]**

_?_

_“I want you to send Amicus ad Aras,”_ San then asked. 

“Why?” Hongjoong asked confused, only half remembering what San had told him about that old Latin proverb.

 _“Just send it to him, he’ll know what it means,”_ San said and so Hongjoong did. 

**[Kim Hongjoong (MiniHong 8)); 23:18]**

_Amicus ad Aras_

_This user has blocked you_

Both looked puzzled at Hongjoong’s screen, “or not.”

 _“Maybe that was too straight forward of me…,”_ San questioned himself, _“But I know he’ll come back to ask you. Wooyoung isn’t someone who lets little things like this slide.”_

“Let’s hope so,” Hongjoong said, when he put his phone to the side to charge. 

-

“You talked with Wooyoung?!” 

Yunho had called Hongjoong as soon as the elder had sent him the heads up that morning. It was about seven in the morning and normally Hongjoong wouldn’t have woken up this early, since he didn’t have any lectures till noon, but he slept horribly due to the same nightmare he had the night before. 

It kinda pissed him off, because he’d looked forward to a good night of sleep, only to wake up in cold sweat around six in the morning.

“Yeah, but for now it will be the last time, cause he blocked me.”

“Why?” Yunho asked.

“Kinda overstepped my boundary,” he explained.

“You told him about San?” Yunho sounded somewhat skeptical, because that sounded like quite an out of character thing for Hongjoong to do. 

“No! No, San told me to send him their promise,” Hongjoong explained further.

 _“Amicus ad Aras,”_ San added. 

“Ah, you’ve told me that before,” Yunho hummed, before he went on to the next subject, “I’ve contacted Seonghwa-hyung by the way - you know the guy whose father is a police officer.” 

_“And? What did he say?_ ” San sounded way more excited than Hongjoong right now. 

“He told me that he would see what he could do for us,” Yunho said.

“And he believed you just like that?” Hongjoong asked in disbelief.

“Hyung knows I wouldn’t just abuse our friendship,” Yunho whined, “You know that too.”

“Yeah yeah,” Hongjoong said, “But he didn’t need any evidence?” 

“He did ask,” Yunho admitted, “But I can’t just invite anyone to your flat. That’s up to you to do.” 

Hongjoong hummed before San responded, _“Well, let him come over then!”_ And the elder shot him a glare, _“What? I live here too you know, besides, technically I do live here longer than you do.”_

“You’re on very thin ice Choi San…,” Hongjoong said rather with a more playful undertone than threatening and San laughed.

 _“We could always send him a video recording, the article and Wooyooung’s post with my voice,”_ San suggested. 

“You’re a genius San!” Yunho yelled through the phone and Hongjoong could hear Mingi on the other side grumble something among the lines ‘is that the ghost’s name?’.

“Hyung, I do have one request for you though,” Yunho asked, sounding a little more reluctant.

“And that's it?”

“Could you perhaps ask around your neighbors if they knew San?” Yunho asked, “Maybe they’ve heard or seen something the night it happened.”

Hongjoong sighed and agreed, “Okay, I’ll try.” Just asking around wouldn’t hurt, right? It wasn’t like Hongjoong was going to do anything with the information other than give it to Yunho. Yunho was the one solving the case. Not him. 

“Thank you, hyung! You’re the best! Tell me if you got any new information, I’ll do too,” and with that Yunho hung up. 

“Why did I agree to this?” Hongjoong asked himself.

 _“Because you care about him,_ ” San said, _“And because you care about me.”_

“Yeah yeah, sure,” Hongjoong sighed.

There was a tiny problem though. Ever since Hongjoong moved into his new flat, he hadn’t really talked or even introduced himself to his neighbors. Sure he greeted them in the hallways, but he hadn’t tried to get to know them in the past months. It was kind of rude and shameful now he thought about it.

He could always try and excuse himself to his neighbors and introduce himself properly, before asking about San? Or he could offer them something like cake? No, that was way too much work…

 _“I thought,”_ San started, _“Maybe you could say you found something in the apartment that belonged to me.”_

Okay maybe San was a genius. 

-

And so Hongjoong found himself in front of many doors that belonged to his many neighbors in the apartment building. However up till now, none of them seemed to know about a certain Choi San. Some older neighbors knew about a suicide about a year ago, but none really knew San personally. They did know about Hongjoong’s existence though, or rather his brother’s and _that_ still creeped him the fuck out. 

It actually made him very nervous and even anxious every time he knocked on another door. And so he stood there with his hands clasped nervously around the small notebook on which he had written ‘Amicus as Aras’ and with San’s name on the inside, before he knocked softly on the next door. 

An old lady, maybe in her eighties, opened the the door and smiled at Hongjoong, “Hello young man, what can I do for you?”

“Hello mam, I’m Kim Hongjoong, recently I moved into the flat next to yours and I thought it was time to introduce myself to my neighbors,” Hongjoong said with a warm smile on his face, because the lady had a nice aura hanging around her.

“That’s sweet of you boy,” the lady said, “Would you like to come in and have some tea?”

“Shouldn't I offer you?” Hongjoong asked a little bit confused. 

“It’s no problem boy,” she said before she pointed at Hongjoong’s hands, “Besides, I take it you want to ask me some more?”

Hongjoong looked down at the makeshift dairy in his hands and he nodded. 

It didn’t take long for Hongjoong to be situated on her old couch with a warm cup of tea in his hands rather than the sweaty notebook. 

“What is it that you wanted to ask me?” she asked him from her comfortable seat. 

“Well, during the move, I found this book, which had the name Choi San in it,” Hongjoong started and the woman hummed along, “I guess that he lived in the apartment before me and since it looked rather important, I want to find him to give it back to him.”

At those last words her expression turned into one filled with pity, “Dear Hongjoong, I find it quite terrible to be the one to tell you this, but Sannie is no more.”

Sannie? San hadn’t mentioned being kind of close to a certain neighbor. 

“Oh… I’m sorry,” Hongjoong acted out poorly and he cringed at how obvious he was, “Are there any relatives I can give this to instead?”

“Luckily I do believe that I have a number that belongs to a friend of his written down somewhere,” she said as she stood up from her seat to walk over to one of the cabinets in her living room, “He’d given it to me in case of emergency.”

Hongjoong thought it was rather odd to do that, but since San was still young to live on his own, it wasn’t too weird to have a direct neighbor have you on speed dial. He just wondered why it was a friend and not his parents. 

“I recall that his name was Jung Wooyoung,” the woman said, “Maybe you know him? The kid knows almost every student in the city. I would call him a sweet social butterfly from time to time.”

Hongjoong laughed rather awkwardly while he thought back to their conversation over instagram, only to answer the woman that no, he didn’t know a certain Jung Wooyoung. 

“I actually haven’t seen him for a while,” she thought out loud, “Sometimes he would come by for some tea.”

“T-that’s really sweet indeed,” Hongjoong said. 

“They both were,” she confirmed. 

“M-may I ask how he died,” Hongjoonged then asked, “S-san I mean.”

She didn’t look at him while she searched through on of the drawers, “Well, it’s officially stated that San committed suicide.”

“T-that’s tragic.”

“It is, only if it was,” she mumbled as she finally found what she was looking for. 

“I’m sorry?” 

Then she walked up to Hongjoong and sat next to him on the couch while she spoke to him in a hushed voice, “I heard someone run up the stairs that evening. They sounded heavy, unlike San’s light frame. I heard the door being opened and thereafter a gunshot followed.”

Hongjoong’s eyes widened. 

“I had called the emergency number immediately, before I called Wooyoung-ah,” she said, “I wasn’t able to see the shooter and afterwards they rendered my witness account useless.”

“What kind of evidence proofed that it was about a suicide then?” Hongjoong asked further. 

“As far as Wooyoung told me, there were two things they found odd about the suicide, that being they didn’t find a receipt belonging to the gun they found next to his body and the location where they found him: right on his doorstep. The only proof for his suicide being the single bullet they found.”

“T-thank you for telling me, mam,” Hongjoong thanked her as he took the number she gave him. 

“No problem boy,” she said as she nudged Hongjoong’s nose like his grandmother would have done once in a while, “I hope Wooyoung will be happy once you return that.”

Oh yeah, the fake diary… but he nodded firm. 

“And please do me a favor,” she said when Hongjoong downed his cooled down tea, “Don’t die that young, will you? You still got a long life ahead of you.”

“I won’t, mam,” Hongjoong said firm, “Thank you.”

And with that Hongjoong left her apartment, not quite sure if he caught her name… but at least he felt really encouraged to go on this time. There was finally some progress in the case and he felt delighted to let Yunho and San know about his findings. On his way towards his own flat he made a mental note to invite his old, sweet lady neighbor for some tea at his place, before he thought to himself that he should try just one last door.

It was the one on the other side of his flat and he knocked on it a little more confident this time. 

“Hello?” a man in his mid thirties opened the door.

“Uhm hello, my name is Kim Hongjoong,” he said, even sounding a little more confident, “I’m your new neighbor.”

“Ah, the younger brother,” the man nodded and Hongjoong tried not to cringe, feeling all his gathered confidence slip through his fingers, “What brings you here?”

“Well, first and foremost I wanted to apologize for not introducing myself sooner,” Hongjoong reluctantly began, but he couldn’t cut it to his next sentence referring to San.

“Well, as expected from the busy _Kim Hongjoong_ ,” the man said rather irritated, “Striving with the fame of his hard working brother with his head too high up his ass. Easy living, am I right?” 

Hongjoong was too taken aback from what the man just told him and he stared at him, his mouth somewhat agape. The horrible feeling of feeling so small creeped up his body and he visibly cringed this time. 

“I don’t know what you think you’ll gain from being friendly to me, but I won’t fall for it. Is it the press you want to impress? Is it for some stupid charity campaign? Or are you just another add-puppet for your brother this time?” he spat, while shortly grabbing Hongjoong’s arm, which held the notebook. Hongjoong flinched visibly and dropped the book in the process, “Don’t waste your time on someone like me with your meaningless words, they won’t work on me.” 

Hongjoong tried to see through the words the man just said and tried to cut to the case, “Actually, I wanted to ask if you knew anyone by the name of Choi San, I found this in my apartment and I think it belongs to the person who lived there before m-“ He reached for the notebook, but never got to the end of the sentence to show it to his neighbor.

“Never heard of Choi San,” the man deadpanned with a sour expression on his face, “Now fuck off, cause I don’t want to be remembered that your face lives next to me. And for god sakes shut it with the horrible music at unholy hours!” 

“Y-yes sir,” Hongjoong bowed to the man, before the door got shoved in his face. 

_This_ was why he didn’t like to go outside. He wasn’t loved by many, like his brother was. Sure there were some fangirls out there, but most of the people thought that Hongjoong lived off of the fame his brother brought. 

Hongjoong swiftly shuffled off to his apartment, rather discouraged, and flung his body on his bed, before he screamed into his pillow out of frustration. 

_“I take it that didn’t go well?”_ San suddenly asked hesitatingly. 

Oh, yes, Hongjoong wasn’t alone and he groaned. 

“I don’t feel like playing detective for today anymore,” Hongjoong murmured into his pillow.

 _“Care to tell me what happened?”_ San asked, but Hongjoong didn’t answer coherently. He just stared at his pillow and wanted to scream until his brother retired or something. 

_“I’m actually right next to you on your bed, hyung,”_ San then said, _“If it helps, I’m petting your head.”_

And when Hongjoong felt that his neck hairs stood up once more, it started to prick behind his eyes and he felt an enormous lump form in his throat, “Thank you, San-ah,” he managed to say, “That really means a lot to me.”

 _“Do you want Yunho to be here?”_ San asked, but Hongjoong shook his head. 

“No,” Hongjoong murmured.

_“Do you want me to leave?”_

“No.”

-

It actually took a few days of self-isolation and some missed calls from Yunho and Mingi, before he left his apartment again. 

Three days. 

They always gave Hongjoong three days, before they used the emergency key to jerk him out of his cramped room and take him outside for some fresh air and to feed him, but he gave them the right to. He was even glad they did so, because he had been so devastated the first time it happened. 

Hongjoong had been walking outside that time, a bus ride away from his safe haven. He didn’t remember if he was alone or with somebody else, but it was neither Yunho nor Mingi. A guy had grabbed him by his arm and shoved him to the ground. Hongjoong had tried to get away from underneath the guy, but he was too strong. There were people filming, but nobody helped. 

Hongjoong remembered a fist connecting with his cheek, the ring on the guy’s finger leaving a rather bloody cut. While Hongjoong was lying there, the guy blurted out how disgusting he was for flirting with his boyfriend, who apparently worked at the cafe where Hongjoong had just bought his coffee, given his celebrity status. Abusing his power to get someone underneath him between the sheets. 

He had been utterly confused and really glad when some people eventually freed him. 

Unfortunately this little slip up didn’t silently pass the press and the next day whole articles were written about it. 

Hongjoong remembered the angry call of his brother’s manager regarding the news and he demanded for Hongjoong to leave a statement on his instagram story, after the company had left a formal statement to the public. His parents and brother didn’t really know what was going on, but they hadn’t been on his side in this matter. Maybe they had been so busy with his brother’s career too, that they had forgotten about Hongjoong’s personality and that he would never do such a thing. 

It resulted in a big argument, which ended up with Hongjoong being prohibited from leaving the house or to see his friends for a while. He’d run to his room and locked himself up for days, involuntarily ignoring all calls and incoming messages, since his parents had taken his phone too, only for Yunho and Mingi to come and bust quite literally into his family’s house to check if he was still alive. 

After that they made a promise, if it ever happened again, what they should do. 

Well, it happened again. Luckily, not nearly as severe, but Hongjoong was still kind of traumatized from that time. 

“Can I come in or is it gonna attack me with the books again?” Hongjoong heard Mingi ask Yunho, when the other clearly already passed his front door if the sound of his footsteps was anything to go by. 

“His name is San, Mingi,” Yunho pouted, “and he’s not gonna bite you.”

 _“He’s in his room,_ ” San said. 

“Thanks, San,” Yunho said, before Hongjoong felt how his bed dipped down near his torso. 

Yunho was silent and didn’t move, just like Hongjoong, but he could feel sorrowful eyes looking at him, before a soft hand petted him from his head down his spine, preparing for a sneak attack. It didn’t take long until he felt a playful jab in his side. 

“Yah~,” Yunho said, his voice sounding in between teasing and worry, “It’s been three days.”

Hongjoong hummed. 

“Have you eaten?”

“Barely,” but Yunho noted it down as nothing at all. 

“Yah! I’m coming in!” 

Both looked up as Mingi finally stormed into Hongjoong’s room, almost slam dunking himself into Hongjoong and Yunho on the bed, as if that would keep him safe from San’s wrath. He did end up hugging the two when it looked like nothing out of the ordinary would happen.

Hongjoong actually appreciated the skinship very much right now, despite the amount of time he put in promoting how much he disliked it, and he sank into the much needed affection.

 _“I wanna join too~,”_ San whined and Mingi tensed up in their hug.

“Is that-?” 

_“Hi, I’m Choi San, nice to meet you,”_ San said, _“I’ve heard a lot about you from hyung and Yunho and I’m sorry that I scared you on purpose. Now may I join your hugging fort?”_

“Yah!” 

Both Yunho and Hongjoong ended up laughing at Mingi’s offended expression, before all three of them felt the shivers running down their spines.

“Yah, you feel cold man,” Mingi complained and finally it clicked to Hongjoong that they were actually able to _feel_ San like this. 

_“Really?”_ San asked, _“I don’t feel anything…”_

-

“So how does this work?” Mingi finally asked, when they’d managed to peel Hongjoong from his sheets and got him to shower. Currently they were sitting at the kitchen table stuffing Hongjoong with the easy to digest food they had brought along. 

“We have no idea,” Yunho answered for Hongjoong and San. 

“It just works,” Hongjoong shrugs. 

_“I’m glad it does,”_ San butted in _, “It was getting boring, watching hyung play with his program all the time.”_

“It is,” Mingi agreed and Hongjoong almost hit him when he threw his chair’s pillow at his head. 

“I’m never gonna help you again,” Hongjoong grumbled.

After Hongjoong had eaten something, he explained to the three of them what happened. While Yunho and Mingi immediately understood the situation, San was a little confused on the other hand. 

_“Are people such dicks about you being a famous actor’s brother?_ ” he asked.

It was a little more complicated than that, but San got the grasp of it. 

_“Waoh~, some people really are unbelievably stupid…”_

“I agree,” Yunho and Mingi said in unison.

“But there was one old lady, who lives on the same floor, that confirmed that your case is indeed about homicide,“ Hongjoong said. 

_“Misses Kang!”_ San spoke up, _“She heard all of that…?”_

“Apparently she did,” Hongjoong confirmed and he explained what she had told him. 

_“Why in the hell would Wooyoung believe I would buy a gun?_ ” San audibly scrunched his nose. 

“You tell me,” Hongjoong responded.

_“He wouldn’t.”_

“So that means Wooyoung wouldn’t believe it’s a suicide, right?” Yunho asked and San hummed in confirmation, “That makes it a lot easier to approach him and ask him if he would like to help.”

“No,” Hongjoong said firm. 

“No~?” Both San and Yunho asked him, confused. 

“No, we already had contact, so he’ll think I really am a pervert stalker…,” Hongjoong explained. And he didn’t want that kind of fake information to land in the hands of a nosy reporter. 

“And what if I went and asked him about it?” Yunho suggested, “He doesn’t know me?”

“He searched through my insta before he contacted me, so he definitely saw the both of you in my stories…,” Hongjoong explained further and both Yunho and Mingi nodded. 

“What about Seonghwa-hyung?” Mingi suggested then, “He won’t know him.”

“I did already drag him into this,” Yunho said thoughtfully. 

_“We could always try and approach him at work? Last time I checked, he still worked at a cafe near the campus,”_ San said.

“ _Last_ time you checked,” Mingi joked, but Yunho already searched through Wooyoung’s social media to confirm that he indeed still worked at a cafe. A cafe called Treasure and once more the shivers went down Hongjoong’s spine, but it wasn’t because of San.

“I’m definitely not going in there,” Hongjoong stated and Yunho hushed him that he didn’t have to, only for San to don’t understand of course. 

_“Why’s that?”_

“It’s complicated…,” Hongjoong told him once more and this time he heard an annoyed sigh, yet he chose to ignore it. 

“So what should we do?” Mingi asked.

“I suggest we get some fresh air and something to drink on the way,” Yunho said as he smiled. 

_“Nah, I wanna come with you~!”_ San whined, but they all knew he couldn’t.

-

_This user has unblocked you_

**[Jung Wooyoung (WooSanie <3); 16:37]**

_Is this a sick joke or something?_

Hongjoong stared at the notification of a certain Jung Wooyoung. He had been lying on his bed with San for the rest of the afternoon, watching stupid dog video’s Yunho had send him ions ago. San had whined about Hongjoong not having a dog or cat, since he’d once read that animals could see ghosts. Hongjoong had laughed at it since he supposed that it was total jackshit, before he explained to San that he couldn’t have one in his flat according to his contract. 

_“I guess that’s fair,”_ he’d said to that, _“I wasn’t allowed to bring Byeol.”_

However the dog videos were long forgotten when the both of them saw a notification pop up on Hongjoong’s screen. And he wondered if San gave him the ‘I told you’ look.

“What should I answer?” Hongjoong asked kind of nervous. 

_“No,”_ San said and so Hongjoong did. 

**[Kim Hongjoong (MiniHong 8)); 16:37]**

_No_

In silence they waited for Wooyoung to reply, which he did fast.

**[Jung Wooyoung (WooSanie <3); 16:37]**

_I’ve never spoken a word with you_

_And you don’t strike me as the person to take your time_

_and scroll through a random guy’s insta_

_And if you did_

_Why would you?_

_That shit hurts dude_

Jung Wooyoung was a fast typer and it didn’t help that San giggled at everything the guy had sent, like he was some excited school girl texting her crush. 

“How should I react to that?” Hongjoong asked San. 

_“Knowing Wooyoung, he’d like for you to apologize first,”_ San said, thoughtful.

**[Kim Hongjoong (MiniHong 8)); 16:38]**

_I’m sorry for saying that out of the blue_

_“But would you believe me if I said he told me?”_ San recited. 

**[Kim Hongjoong (MiniHong 8)); 16:38]**

_But would you believe me if I said he told me?_

**[Jung Wooyoung (WooSanie <3); 16:37]**

_What?_

_Are you some weird ghostbuster too now?_

_Or is this some fucked up promoting_

_for one of your brother’s next roles?_

At those next words Hongjoong cringed rather visibly, the knots in his chest tightening around his heart, making it quite hard for him to breathe. Of course Wooyoung was hurt too and didn’t know about Hongjoong’s situation, but he couldn’t help but feel incredibly terrible. 

**[Kim Hongjoong (MiniHong 8)); 16:38]**

_Thanks for your time Wooyoung_

_You have blocked this user_

_“What was that for?!”_ San screeched in his ear.

“I’m done with this for for today, San,” Hongjoong responded as he got up from his bed and tossed his phone to the side. 

_“But what if you just send him a voice recording of me?”_ San tried, _“I’m sure he would be at least interested.”_

“San, you’re dead,” Hongjoong emphasized, “No normal person would believe in ghost stories.” 

It’s silent for a while and Hongjoong applauded himself for being a fucking dick, which made him feel even more like shit than he already did. 

_“That actually hurt,”_ San said after a while. 

But Hongjoong was just too overwhelmed to take it anymore and he walked over to his computer to mute San. He could still see the input bar moving violently, indicating that San was probably yelling at him. But Hongjoong just didn’t want to face this weird situation right now. He needed fresh air and he just needed to be away from San for a little while. 

When he closed the door behind his back, it was when he heard the first dish hitting the floor rather aggressively. 

-

It was well past eleven when Hongjoong dared to return to his apartment.

He had strolled meaningless through the city streets of Seoul with his face mask, sunglasses and the head of his hoodie on, so nobody would recognize him on the spot. He didn’t really stop and sit somewhere to eat, since he didn’t bring his wallet and neither did he bring his appetite with him. 

He did however curse at himself for not bringing his phone with him in case of emergency, but there was nothing much to do about that other than going home. Back to San. 

For a moment he had stopped near a billboard which promoted his brother’s newest film and out of frustration he picked up a stone and threw it, screaming in the process. Disappointingly, Hongjoong didn’t have much strength in his arms and the rock missed terribly, almost hitting the nearest window, so he quickly made his way past the promotional poster. 

After he felt like he had enough of pointlessly walking around, he decided to make a u-turn and head back to his flat. He debated if he should go to Yunho’s and Mingi’s instead, but in the end he didn’t want to bother them any more today since they’re already way too much sucked up in Hongjoong shitty mess. 

It didn’t surprise him when he found a note on his door, which peacefully asked for him to fucking calm the fuck down, otherwise they would call the police, but it didn’t really bother him. He just hoped the old lady hadn’t heard all the ruckus.

When he opened his front door it was dead silent in his flat, but he could clearly see the damage San had done to his apartment out of pure rage. His books were all over the place, some dishes had met the floor and even some food out of his opened refrigerator had been smudged over the walls, while his light was flickering and refused to turn either on or off. 

Yeah, he messed up big time… 

Carefully Hongjoong made his way to his room and unmuted his computer, which San had left untouched. 

“San?” Hongjoong tried, but there was no response. 

“San, I’m sorry,” Hongjoong said softly not knowing where to look so he stared at the floor like a scolded puppy instead.

 _“No you’re not,”_ San finally said, _“You can’t be sorry about something that’s dead.”_

“But the things I said to you were mean,” he apologized, “and I shouldn’t have said them.”

 _“I get it though_ ,” San said, _“it’s okay. I’m sorry for pushing you too."_

“That’s okay,” Hongjoong said, “Where are you now?”

 _“On your bed,”_ San answered.

“Can I sit next to you? Give you a hug or something?” Hongjoong proposed and he heard a small scoff meets a snicker from San.

 _“Aside from that it’s physically impossible; yeah,”_ he said, _“Just don’t sit on top of me.”_

And both laughed, before Hongjoong sat next to San to put his arms around his invisible frame, “Am I hugging you right now?”

 _“You’re kinda perforating the area where my ribcage used to be, but other than that: great hug,_ ” he answered and they both laughed once more, _“Best one I’ve had since a year.”_

“I agree,” Hongjoong hummed with his eyes closed, “But can you please stop the lights from being indecisive, before I get an epileptic episode?”

-

_Now_

**[Mountain; 15:56]**

_I’m home_

Again, for the past couple of nights, Hongjoong felt like he had an out of body experience. He was in his living room, that was for sure, but the furniture wasn’t his. It looked foreign, yet much cozier than how Hongjoong’s living room looked. He’d seen this room a few times now and he wondered if San had furnished it himself or with the help from Wooyoung, because it definitely was supposed to be San’s old living room. Even though that wasn’t really that important, since he wasn’t sure if this was a figment of his own imagination on repeat or somehow San’s doing. However, it felt very real and he thought that it wouldn’t hurt to investigate this dream too. After all, he did come here every night since he met San. 

So now he had this dream for the umptheenth time he tried to see it from a different perspective. Tonight he tried to look over San’s shoulder, when he came back to his apartment. He had his phone out, texting Wooyoung. 

**[Wooyoungie <3; 15:56]**

_You’re early?_

_Can I come over then?_

**[Mountain; 15:56]**

_You said it was something important_

_Best to have it out asap I guess?_

**[Wooyoungie <3; 15:56]**

_On my way then_

_You want me to grab something on my way over?_

**[Mountain; 15:56]**

_Nah_

_I still have some snacks here_

**[Wooyoungie <3; 15:56]**

_Okay_

_See you in ten_

And with that San closed his texting application and put his phone away. Hongjoong had always wondered why Wooyoung had been there so fast after San died, but this explained a lot. It probably meant that Wooyoung lived nearby as well, which made him really glad that he hadn’t run into the guy yet after their chat… _if_ Hongjoong could trust the information granted by his dream though.

He watched how San sat down at his small dinner table, nervously tapping his foot on the ground. He leaned on the table, while he let his head rest in his hands, before he let out a deep sigh. Hongjoong could barely see how he bit his lips. 

Well, whatever his friend needed to talk about, San didn’t think that it was good news. 

It took a few minutes, before he grabbed his phone once more, opening his chat with Wooyoung, while scrolling through older messages. 

_Yesterday_

**[Wooyoungie <3; 23:43]**

_We broke up_

_I broke up with him_

_He didn’t take it so well tho_

**[Mountain; 23:43]**

_What did he say?_

**[Wooyoungie <3; 23:45]**

_He asked if it was because of you_

**[Mountain; 23:45]**

_Oh_

_Where did he get that idea from?_

**[Wooyoungie <3; 23:45]**

_Thought we were too close_

_Again_

**[Mountain; 23:45]**

_Oh_

_I’m sorry_

**[Wooyoungie <3; 23:45]**

_No_

_No don’t be sorry_

_Just_

_Can we talk about that tomorrow?_

**[Mountain; 23:46]**

_Tomorrow’s okay_

_You wanna come to my place?_

**[Wooyoungie <3; 23:46]**

_Yeah_

_When are you home?_

**[Mountain; 23:46]**

_I need to grab some stuff over at my parents_

_Think I’ll be at home around dinner time?_

**[Wooyoungie <3; 23:46]**

_Fine by me_

_See you tomorrow_

**[Mountain; 23:46]**

_Yeah_

_See you tomorrow_

**[Wooyoungie <3; 23:46]**

_Amicus ad Aras!_

**[Mountain; 23:46]**

_Amicus ad Aras_

_“_ _I fucked up,”_ Hongjoong looked up when he finally got the hang of why San would say such a thing. He knew that it wasn’t his business, but his thought process made somewhat sense to himself. 

San was probably in love with Wooyoung… if the heart behind his contact name was anything to go by. At least that would explain why San had been so defensive when Hongjoong assumed the two were dating. No big deal to Hongjoong, but when he saw those messages it clearly looked like a one-sided love in that way. 

And San now probably thought that Wooyoung found out about his feelings for him. That he wanted to talk about _that_ and break their friendship. San probably thought he ruined their friendship. 

That sucks and he really wanted to give San a hug and tell that it was going to be okay, even though he was really bad at that. 

He hesitated if he should ask San about this. To ask if he could confirm all this, but he didn’t know if it was too personal. 

_Bonk Bonk_

Suddenly both looked up at the door. And while San’s expression turned the same confusion in each dream, Hongjoong stopped to startle every time, even though he disliked the dread of the sound. San mumbled something among the line ‘he’s already here?’, when he made his way to the front door. 

Hongjoong followed him every time, hiding a little behind the small coat rack so he could duck away when San would open the door. He didn’t want to see how he got shot over and over again, because it made him sick to his stomach. 

San however always waited before he opened the door. Hongjoong could see how he tried to give himself some sort of peptalk to gain confidence and face Wooyoung, never had he imagined what waited for him on the other side of the door. 

Hongjoong scrunched his eyes shut and stuffed his head in one of San’s thick coats when he heard the familiar sound of San opening the door. Every time he hoped he wouldn’t hear it, yet he still heard the loud bang that followed up through his hands that he had put over his ears. He hated the sound. 

After that the dream always became vague. He had no real indication of what happened until he heard Wooyoung’s heart wrenching cries. 

_“San!”_

_“Sannie!”_

_“SAN!”_

It hurt so much. It hurt so fucking much, that Hongjoong’s knees always became weak, gasping for air when his own weight got too heavy to carry, since his chest felt too tight to properly breathe. 

He hated this dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Atiny day! 
> 
> I hope you'll have a nice 1117 <3
> 
> ~ Zora


	2. Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!
> 
> I decided to add a few more scenes last minute, so there could be some more spelling/grammer errors in this part, but I'll try to fix that as fast as possible.
> 
> Anyways, I hope you'll enjoy the next part!
> 
> ~ Zora
> 
> (I updated on Monday, but today I noticed that the update date was still the sixteenth, so I changed it. I also added some new tags just in case)

It had been a few days since Hongjoong and San had their argument and luckily those days had passed in peace. 

Today Yunho would bring this ‘Park Seonghwa-hyung’ over to Hongjoong’s flat, since he had agreed on it. Actually Hongjoong was really curious as to who this guy, Yunho knew, was. 

When Hongjoong had asked his friend, he’d told him that his father was a family friend of his parents and that they knew each other from their childhood. Yunho said that he didn’t speak that much to him anymore, since Seonghwa went to study abroad when Yunho went to high school. But recently he had come back. 

On the other hand Hongjoong had known Yunho since elementary school, since he was his assigned upperclassman throughout the years. Whenever Yunho had a problem or not, he would come over to Hongjoong and talk to him or play with him. 

Yunho had been the only kid to really play with him and befriend him even though he was a year younger than him, since Hongjoong actually had a hard time making friends. Of course Yunho found out about that and soon after he dragged Mingi into their friendship.

Hongjoong didn’t complain though, they were the bestest of friends he could have ever wished for. Especially when his brother’s career blew up. 

Even though his curiosity was bigger, he had to admit that he was a little nervous about inviting a total stranger into his safe haven. But he just told himself that he needed to suck it up this time. Yunho wouldn’t have proposed it if Seonghwa was a dickhead. 

_ Knock knock _

_ “You’ve got visitors,” _ San announced when clear knocking could be heard on his front door. 

It kind of had Hongjoong frowning, since Yunho would definitely just barge in with his spare key. 

He gave his phone one last flash, noticing the last message Yunho had sent:

_ Now _

**[Jeong Yunho; 10:55]**

Hyung~

I’m running a little late

I’ll prob be at yours in 20

Seonghwa will be at yours in about 5

Hongjoong looked at the clock in his living room which stated that it was two minutes before eleven AM and he frowned at the chat. Thanks for the heads up… 

_ “Who is it?”  _ San asked.

“Probably Park Seonghwa,” Hongjoong said as he made his way towards the front door, which he’d actually become reluctant to open, because of his nightmares. 

_ “He does know about me, right?” _ San proceeded. 

“I guess so,” Hongjoong said, his hand on the door handle, “We’ll find out soon enough.” And with that Hongjoong opened the door. 

In front of him stood a gorgeous man with a warm smile on his face. He was taller than Hongjoong, yet he didn’t look as long as Yunho or Mingi, and his frame was casually yet stylishly dressed. 

“Hi,” Hongjoong said, rather awkward, as tongue tied as he was right now due to the appearance in front of him.

_ “Yah, hyung~, that is not a good first impression!” _ Hongjoong’s face lit up in embarrassment, when he heard San joke, followed up by his squeaky yet pitiful sounding laughter. 

Seonghwa on the other hand had eyes as big as saucers and a slight blush on his cheeks. 

“Ignore him,” Hongjoong immediately said, before he turned to wherever San was, “I should’ve put you on mute!”

_ “How rude! You would never!”  _ San yelled back, even though they both knew Hongjoong had already done it once, yet they both chose to let it slide for now. 

“Uhm, hi, I’m Seonghwa,” he introduced himself, when Hongjoong had stopped bickering with his ghost roommate, “Yunho told me that he was going to be a bit later.”

“Y-yeah,” Hongjoong confirmed, turned his attention to his guest once more, “He told me too.” 

_ “Are you gonna let him in or what?” _ San asked and Hongjoong really should have told him to shut it.

Seonghwa laughed a little, when Hongjoong let him through the hallway, “At least he does sound lively.”

_ “I wish I was,” _ San joked, even though it was a morbid one. 

“Nice to meet you too, San,” he said not really knowing where to look, when he put his jacket over one of Hongjoong’s chairs, “I’m Seonghwa, I guess, Yunho told you about me already? He did tell me about you.”

“You just believe it like that?” Hongjoong asked flabbergasted, as he stood frozen in the hallway. 

“He definitely doesn’t sound like a computer,” Seonghwa started, “And as far as Yunho told me, this doesn’t work on some kind of WiFi or Bluetooth connection.”

“That’s fair,” Hongjoong said.

“And if it is indeed a prank, they should know that they could be charged for this,” Seonghwa put it simply, before he sat down on one of the chairs Hongjoong had offered him. 

“Y-yeah,” Hongjoong nodded. 

_ “It isn’t a prank though,” _ San almost whined,  _ “And it’s nice meeting you too!” _

After about ten minutes Yunho came running in, complaining about something that happened in traffic. They greeted each other and actually came to business rather fast. 

“So, I asked my father if he knew about the case regarding Choi San, but there wasn’t much new information he could give me due to privacy regulations,” Seonghwa began, “However he did tell me that the investigation team came to their conclusion rather fast. He told me that he thought of it as an out of the ordinary suicide scene, but that he didn’t want disregard his colleges work.”

“So we know nothing?” Hongjoong asked. 

“Not nothing,” Seonghwa said, “I asked him if he could review the files for me, since it wasn’t allowed for him to copy those for me, due to the same regulations.”

“And you’re not a cop,” Hongjoong deadpanned.

“He didn’t ask why though?” Yunho asked this time.

“I told him it was for a friend who knew San, which is kind of the truth,” Seonghwa shrugged, “And that we came across the case when we looked for flats that were up for rent - which is also kind of true for my part. I said that we found some oddities in the article and that I wanted to review them.”

“And he just believed you like that?” Hongjoong gaped at Seonghwa in disbelieve. 

“Well, I don’t think I got that from a stranger then?” Seonghwa shrugged again and Hongjoong pouted at him, “but for your information, he didn’t agree on giving me the information at first. He got curious himself and decided to tell me eventually.”

_ “And~, what did he tell you then?” _ San eagerly asked. 

“Well, this is the interesting part,” Seonghwa said, “Even though it was filed an ordinary suicide, San’s case was filed away very ‘neathly’ to put it like that. Almost as if they tried to hide it and even when my father found the file there were severe restrictions on the information.” 

“So there  _ is  _ something fishy about this!” Yunho said. 

Seonghwa nodded, concern written over his face when he looked at Hongjoong, who clearly understood what he implied, in the eyes.

“Are you implying this might be a corrupt case?” Hongjoong asked.

“It looks like it,” Seonghwa confirmed, “My father asked around about the restrictions on the information, but nobody had an answer to that.” 

_ “This stinks,”  _ San huffed. 

“You’re right,” Seonghwa sighed, “My father thanked me for the heads up and he’s actually gonna try to look into the case. However he did ask me not to mingle with this business.” 

“Wasn’t really planning on,” Hongjoong said.

“And what about San then?” Yunho asked, “We can’t just sit here and do nothing, right? I mean, your dad doesn’t know about this, I guess?” And he gestured with his hands to indicate the situation of Hongjoong’s flat. 

_ “ _ This _ has a name,” _ San pouted and Seonghwa shook his head. 

“I didn’t want to go ahead and tell him before I’ve heard San with my own ears,” he explained.

“Do you plan on telling him,” Hongjoong asked reluctant, since he didn’t want to be involved in something that could go publicly. 

“If I need to, probably,” Seonghwa said earnest, “but definitely not before there’s more clarity on his side of the investigation.”

He looked both of the other men at the table in the eyes, “ _ If _ you do want me to help  _ you _ other than just being your in-between guy.”

Hongjoong may have trust issues, but the clarity and honesty in Seonghwa’s eyes might have given him confidence in giving him a chance. Especially, since the guy hadn’t once mentioned his family name. Besides, Hongjoong realised he himself was already way too deep into this shit. If he wanted this to go as smoothly as possible, then he needed to monitor this himself. 

“Well, now you say so,” Yunho said and Hongjoong could literally hear the cogs in Yunho’s head work overtime, “We do want to talk to Wooyoung, San’s friend. Hongjoongie-hyung already tried to contact him, but that didn’t really go according to plan, I guess.”

And Hongjoong shook his head.

“May I ask what happened?” Seonghwa asked. 

_ “Hyung involuntarily pissed him off,” _ San huffed,  _ “and then he pissed hyung off.” _

Yunho gave Hongjoong a look, before the older shrugged, “Well, that kind of summarises it.”

“And why won’t  _ you _ go?” Seonghwa asked Yunho.

“Wooyoung’s looked through Hongjoong-hyung’s social media already, so I’m sure he’s seen me and Mingi several times in his story, which is why it would be suspicious if one of us would go,” Yunho explained.

“So you want me to go?” Seonghwa asked. 

_ “Yes!”  _ San answered a little too excited. 

“Okay.”

“Okay?” Hongjoong repeated, “Just like that?”

Seonghwa laughed a bit awkward, “I thought we’d already discussed this earlier, but yes I do want to help you.”

“Yes, thanks hyung!” Yunho smiled brightly when he hugged the other in his chair. 

“O-only if you want too though,” he said, regarding Hongjoong. But could he say no now? It was for San… 

“Sure,” Hongjoong eventually answered, even though it sounded a bit indifferent. 

_ “So, what’s the plan?” _ San yelled excited. 

-

“Oh, there he is!” Yunho exclaimed and he peeked through the window of the cafe across Wooyoung’s workplace. 

About a week later Hongjoong, Yunho and Seonghwa had met up once more to get things going with Wooyoung. They had already made a plan on how to approach San’s friend the afternoon Seonghwa had been at Hongjoong’s flat. 

It was a lot easier with San’s knowledge about Wooyoung, who was apparently very flirtatious and a sociable person. San told them that Wooyoung was supposed to study vocal, dance and performance art at the same uni San was supposed to go, to Yunho’s surprise, because he nor Mingi had seen the guy around. 

Aside from that, San told that Wooyoung was very straightforward and to the point, which Hongjoong could confirm out of experience. But he was also very nice and considerate, wherever that part of Wooyoung went when he spoke to Hongjoong… yet his older neighbor had claimed so too, so he supposed he was just biased. 

Seonghwa had written down some important details that San described about his friend. At first they wanted to make a tactful plan with an almost scripted conversation, but San opposed, claiming that Wooyoung would see straight through such antics. 

Yunho had decided that Hongjoong and him would watch Seonghwa from the cafe across the street, much to Hongjoong’s displeasure. He didn’t like to expose himself too much, because he knew the press would always be around. But Yunho promised to pay for their drinks and Hongjoong guessed that was a fair trade. 

So he found himself across from Yunho at the table in front of the window, drowning in an oversized hoodie with the head on. Normally he would wear a pair of sunglasses and a face mask in addition, but he thought that was a little too much inside a cafe. 

Yunho on the other hand never cared for Hongjoong’s celebrity status and always looked like his good-looking self. He didn’t even care to be a little less attractive, when they were supposed to go unnoticed, but Hongjoong lied if he didn’t find that at least a little endearing. 

Meanwhile Seonghwa had entered the cafe on the other side of the street: Treasure. He looked a little lost at first, but he didn’t come to waste his time and he walked straight up to one of the employees. 

_ “Hello, may I ask you something?” _

Both Yunho and Hongjoong had their earplugs plugged into Yunho’s phone, which was calling Seonghwa’s number. 

Beforehand they had decided that it was a good idea to be able to listen along to the conversation. Seonghwa didn’t wear any earplugs to hear the pair though, because, as San had told them, Wooyoung would notice. So he kept his phone in his pocket, while Hongjoong and Yunho had their microphone turned off. 

_ “Oh, hey, Seonghwa-hyung, right? ‘Haven’t seen you in a long time!” _

Both Yunho and Hongjoong quirked an eyebrow at each other. Apparently Seonghwa knew the employee he just spoke to, which wasn’t a bad thing necessarily, because that could mean easier access to Wooyoung.

_ “Yah~ Yeosangie, long time no seen!” _ Seonghwa finally said when he recognized his dongsaeng. 

Yeosang. 

Hongjoong frowned upon hearing that name. He’d read it somewhere before and he was quite sure that had been on Wooyoung’s instagram. Multiple times. Great. Yeosang was a friend of Wooyoung’s. 

However it was kind of disappointing how Seonghwa’s resolute approach had turned into some uninteresting small talk, so Hongjoong decided to quietly sip on the hot cocoa Yunho had bought for him, when it got brought to their table. 

That was until Seonghwa finally mentioned Wooyoung.

_ “I don’t want to cut you short, but I actually came to ask you something,” _ Seonghwa said.

_ “Oh, and what did you want to ask me then?” _ Yeosang asked. 

_ “Well, do you know a certain Jung Wooyoung?” _ Seonghwa answered with his question. 

_ “Ah, well of course! Are you sure you want to meet him?” _ Yeosang asked jokingly, before another voice joined. 

_ “Yah, Yeosangie~”  _ It was a rather whiny voice, but judging by Yunho’s excited exclaim, which was a little too loud for Hongjoong’s liking, he guessed that the voice belonged to Wooyoung. 

_ “Ah, Wooyoung-ah, I didn’t know you were there,” _ Yeosang didn’t sound sorry at all and they could hear how Seonghwa snickered at his reaction.

_ “You did,” _ Wooyoung pouted and Hongjoong looked just in time out of the window to see how Wooyoung jabbed the other in his side. He could hear Yeosang gasp en laugh along with a really high pitched Elmo-like laugh. 

Yeah, that definitely was Wooyoung. 

_ “Oh, can I help you with something?”  _ Wooyoung asked finally regarding Seonghwa.

_ “Ah, Wooyoung-ah, this here is my hyung, Seonghwa,”  _ Yeosang introduced him,  _ “I’ve told you about him, haven’t I?" _

Wooyoung hummed and introduced himself properly before Seonghwa said,  _ “You never actually told me about Wooyoung though?” _

_ “Yah!”  _ Another playful jab in Yeosang’s side.

_ “But hyung actually wanted to speak to you _ ,” Yeosang then explained while Wooyoung let out a confused ‘me?’. 

_ “Well, tell me what you want to speak to me about,” _ Wooyoung said as he gestured for Seonghwa to follow him into a booth where Yunho and Hongjoong couldn’t see them. 

Hongjoong bit his lip nervously, not really knowing what Seonghwa was going to say. 

_ “Actually it’s kind of a personal question, if that is okay with you,”  _ Seonghwa explained and Wooyoung hummed in agreement, but before Seonghwa could cut to the case, their conversation got cut short. 

_ “Wooyoungie, who’s this?” _

It was a new voice and Hongjoong had to kick Yunho under the table, when he peaked a little too obvious out of the window to see whoever had joined them.

_ “Ah is it that late already?”  _ Wooyoung asked more to himself than to Seonghwa or the third person, “ _ Can’t it wait for a little while, Seonghwa-hyung here wanted to ask me something. _ ”

_ “I never heard you talk about him before,” _ the voice said and Hongjoong felt offended for Seonghwa,  _ “Besides, you promised to go on a lunch date with me and your break is only so long.” _

_ “Then you should’ve showed up in time…,” _ Wooyoung pouted.

_ “If my timing is inconvenient, I can come by another time?” _ Seonghwa then suggested and before Wooyoung could answer him the third voice did. 

_ “Yes.” _

Wooyoung didn’t say much after that other than offering for Seonghwa to come back after his shift had ended, which was quite late in the evening, but Seonghwa friendly declined. But they couldn’t pick another moment to reunite, before the third person dragged Wooyoung away. 

“What a dick,” Yunho pouted softly and Hongjoong couldn’t agree more. 

They expected Seongwha to come over to them right away, yet he started another conversation. Again with Yeosang. 

_ “Who was that, if I may ask? _ ” And Hongjoong was impressed that he took his job rather seriously. Or, he’d just expected Yunho and Hongjoong to combust him with questions about the mystery man.

_ “Who? That guy that snatched Wooyoung away like that?” _ Yeosang put it in exactly the right words, luckily Seonghwa could laugh about.

“ _ Going from your annoyance, he does that to you too?”  _ Seonhwa asked. 

_ “More than I like to admit,” _ Yeosang sighed a bit sad this time,  _ “That was his boyfriend.” _

_ “Explains,” _ Seonghwa hummed. 

Another sigh left Yeosang’s lips before he said something rather interesting,  _ “He was clingy before with San, but this guy’s next level and it isn’t even Wooyoung’s himself who’s clingy…”  _

_ “I get it,” _ Seonghwa agreed. 

_ “I don’t even know if he’s really happy with that dude to be honest,” _ Yeosang innocently went on.

_ “Why’s that?”  _ Seonghwa asked, and by now Hongjoong really wanted to know on what kind of basis their relationship was, because this Yeosang dude sure was really open to him. 

_ “Well, to make a long story short; they had broken up about more than a year ago, because Wooyoung had feelings for someone else - have I ever told you about San?”  _ And Seonghwa probably had shaken his head,  _ “The thing is, Wooyoung had feelings for him, but he passed away.” _

_ “I’m sorry for your loss,” _ Seonghwa said.

_ “It’s okay, it isn’t your fault or anything,” _ Yeosang brushed it off and it reminded Hongjoong of how San would say it. So he guessed that San must have been friends with Yeosang as well. 

_ “May I ask what happened after San’s death?” _

_ “Well, to say that it was Wooyoung’s shittiest period is an understatement,” _ Yeosang kind of tried to laugh it off,  _ “he just wasn’t… Wooyoung.” _

And Seonghwa hummed.

_ “We were all just confused about what really happened and Wooyoung refused to believe it at all,”  _ he continued spilling his friend’s tea, oblivious to Hongjoong and Yunho eavesdropping on them,  _ “San was his everything, so after his burial, Wooyoung kind of grew back to his ex, who, in my opinion, took advantage of Wooyoung’s situation to get him back. I’m kind of bitter about it.”  _

_ “That sounds sad,” _ Seonghwa agreed.

_ “It is,” _ Yeosang sighed,  _ “On a brighter note, would you like something to drink now you’re here?” _

But Seonghwa politely declined and promised to come by another time, before he headed out to meet Hongjoong and Yunho at least two blocks away from there. 

-

San made a noise of clear displeasure when Hongjoong had told him about Wooyoung’s boyfriend. Hongjoong, however, had left out the part in which Yeosang practically said that Wooyoung was in love with San instead. 

_ “Why did he go back to him?” _ he whined, but Hongjoong could only shrug.

“But you knew him?” he asked.

_ “Of course, I had to put up with that dickhead for months…,”  _ San whined some more,  _ “And he definitely didn’t mask how much he disliked me when Wooyoung wasn’t around.” _

“Oh?” now that was interesting.

_ “He hated it when Wooyoung would hang out with me and be super affectionate and clingy,” _ San explained,  _ “I mean, I get it that it can be really envying, if you are that type, but Wooyoung was like the only one that really cared about me.” _

“What about your parents?” Hongjoong asked out of curiosity.

_ “They were businessmen, both my mother and father, so most of the time they were overseas,” _ he said,  _ “Sure, my grandparents took good care of me, but I was over at Wooyoung’s the most, where it honestly felt like my real home. So, you know, no wonder Wooyoung and I were really close.” _

Hongjoong nodded.

_ “And he knew that too, yet he still expressed his discomfort to me and Wooyoung. Once, he shoved me rather roughly aside. Wooyoung had become angry at him after that and it kinda went downhill from there on,”  _ San went on.

“So Wooyoung broke up with him?” Hongjoong asked and San hummed in confirmation. 

_ “It took some time though, but he eventually told me they’d broken up,” _ San told him,  _ “I don’t really know what happened after that, cause, you know… I died.” _

“That happened shortly after he told you?” Hongjoong asked, slightly alarmed.

_ “Yeah, actually, the day before,” _ San confirmed,  _ “He told me in a text message, before he asked to come over.” _

Hongjoong nodded in silence, not really knowing what to do with this knew information, but before he could process all his thoughts his phone went off. 

Without looking at the caller ID Hongjoong picked up. 

“Hello?”

_ “Hey Hongjoongie, how are you doing?”  _

It was his brother. Great timing. Honestly perfect... And Hongjoong hesitated if he should just hang up like that or not, but he knew it was unfair to his brother. It wasn’t necessarily  _ his _ fault, Hongjoong had a shitty life up till now. 

“I’m doing okay,” he just answered, “How are you?”

_ “I’m doing great! We’ve actually filmed all summer and the new film is almost about to be in the theaters, we’ve just entered the last stage of the promotional stages,” _ he told Hongjoong excited.

“So why are you calling?” Hongjoong asked straight forward. He didn’t want to sound rude, but his brother kind of never had a convenient timing with these kinds of things. 

_ “Can’t I just call my little brother, because I care for him?” _ he joked and Hongjoong cringed,  _ “But you’re right, I do have to ask you something.” _

Hongjoong kept silent for his brother to explain himself,  _ “Well, as I just told you I’m busy promoting my new film but, how much I hate to ask you, my company wants you to lay low for a little while until the promotions are over. This film is gonna be big and they want only good news being spread about the film itself and the actors.”  _

Ah, of course, that was always what they specifically asked for after that one big incident. He knew it wasn’t his brother who asked him to and how much he really disliked to ask him such things when his manager asked him to, yet his brother still complied.

_ “But besides that, mom and dad haven’t heard from you in a while and they asked if you wanted to come home during the promotions?” _ he asked for them, but Hongjoong declined, he much rather stayed in his small flat. 

Of course he missed his parents and his brother and he mentally slapped himself for not contacting them sooner, but he kind of had some bigger problems on his head that kept him from it. Which one of them was San, the first and foremost reason why he would like to stay home now. He didn’t want to admit it that way, but he didn’t like it if San would be alone for about two months.

“I’m actually really busy, hyung,” Hongjoong said, “and I have many lectures I can’t miss.” 

_ “Ah, I understand,” _ he sounded a little sad,  _ “but just think about it, okay? Mom and dad would like it too.” _

Thanks for the guilt trip… 

_ “Hey, uhm, call you later then?” _ He said and Hongjoong hummed before he hung up and wished he had looked at his screen before picking up so he could have considered whether to push the decline button or not.

_ “Was that your brother?” _ San asked and Hongjoong nodded,  _ “Was it something important?” _

“Nah, he asked me to come home,” Hongjoong said.

_ “Well, go then! Family is important,” _ San said and he probably would have winked, referring to their previous conversation, but Hongjoong wasn’t in the mood to joke around about that. 

“For two months,” Hongjoong added and San went silent. 

_ “Oh,” _ was all he eventually said. 

“Don’t worry, I’m not gonna,” Hongjoong said, kind of trying to give San an warm smile wherever he was standing, “Can’t leave you alone now, can I?”

_ “Ah~ you  _ do _ love me!”  _ San quirked, and maybe a little bit more than Hongjoong liked to admit.

“ _But hyung_ ,” San said with another tone which Hongjoong recognized as teasing, _“I’m not over there…”_

“Yah~! Choi San, for once just stay still!”

-

_ “What’s that?" _

The next morning Hongjoong had been rummaging through the remaining unopened cardboard boxes to find something that had been gifted to him by his brother’s company a while ago; a small security system. 

When it was given to him the moment he had informed the company about his move, he hadn’t thought of actually using it. Who in the world would want to break into a university student’s apartment, when it was obvious there was nothing to fedge? Maybe Hongjoong owned some expensive microphones, but other than that, he saw no reason to install the camera to his front door. 

If anything would give away that he something expensive to hide in his flat, that stupid camera would. But to his brother’s company there was enough reason to give Hongjoong this. That reason being that he had a celebrity status and that he needed this safety, in case someone tried to kidnap him from his own home and hold him hostage in exchange for a lot of money. 

Now  _ that _ was something Hongjoong seriously doubted would happen… Besides, he had San to scare them away now anyways.

He had rolled his eyes at the company’s reasoning. Only people who’ve either watched too many movies or had too much money to care for would come up with such ridiculous scenarios. But right now his gift might come in handy. 

Other than the camera, the small security system came with a monitor, which he could hang outside his apartment to speak to whoever was in front of his door, when he didn’t feel like answering the door physically or when he wasn’t home, but only  _ if _ he had installed the corresponding app on his smartphone. 

Although its purpose was for safety, whether it was to catch a glimpse of whoever tried to break into his flat or just a fancy doorbell for lazy people like him, Hongjoong thought he could use it for a better cause.

_ “What are you gonna use that for?” _ San asked once more, when Hongjoong didn’t answer his first question, because by now the ghost had noticed what he had on his hands. 

“It’s for you,” Hongjoong responded absentmindedly, when he installed the camera and connected the system with his smartphone. 

_ “Me?” _ San sounded confused,  _ “I know you care about me, hyung, but I don’t think you need to be worried about my safety…”  _

“I’m not afraid you’ll get kidnapped,” Hongjoong chuckled a little at his own lame joke.

_ “‘Glad we came to the same conclusion,” _ San said in a sarcastic manner,  _ “Then, what is this really for?” _

“Tada!” Hongjoong showed his phone, which displayed live camera footage of his bedroom, to the invisible - or so he hoped.

_ “I still need a little more explaining than that, hyung~,” _ San whined. 

“Well, I’ve connected the security camera to this app on my phone which can give me live video and audio of whatever happens in my bedroom,” Hongjoong eventually explains, “It works fine with a stable internet connection, but that won’t really be a problem. You can see and talk to me through that monitor.”

_ “And for what would I need it?” _ San asked, curious.

“So you can go outside,” Hongjoong said with a big smile on his face and it didn’t take long for him to feel the all familiar shiver that ran down his spine. 

After San had complained that he couldn’t come with them to spy on Wooyoung or just go out with him and his friends in general, Hongjoong came up with this idea. He could’ve just bought another phone and then called the device, but that was way more expensive than this option. 

The Hongjoong from a few weeks ago would gladly slap more sense into himself that he was only making it more difficult for himself when San disappeared. He needed to keep his distance and not get emotionally attached to someone who was already dead… 

But the Hongjoong who had lived with San for these past weeks couldn’t help himself. Maybe he still felt a little bit sorry for their little fight in which Hongjoong had put him on mute, but he guessed that was just in addition as to why he did this.

“You said that you wanted to leave the flat. Even though you aren’t technically leaving, it is something.”

Besides, it made Hongjoong feel a little bit better about leaving San all alone while he went to the university campus for his lectures. 

“Lectures will be a little boring, but-”

_ “I don’t care,” _ San cut him off and Hongjoong felt himself shiver again, which must indicate that he was indeed hugging him,  _ “Thank you!”  _

-

Not long after, Hongjoong found himself outside the apartment building looking at his bedroom through his phone. He had moved San’s microphone in between the camera and his desk chair, so the ghost would be comfortable the whole day, and it made it look a little more like a face-time call rather than a security check. 

“Does it work?” Hongjoong asked through the build-in the mic in his earplugs. 

_ “Yes!”  _ San chirped and it turned a smile on Hongjoong’s face, before he put his phone in the front pocket of his coat. The pocket had always been a little on the small side for the size of his phone, but for this occasion it fit just right, since his camera could perfectly peak over the fabric. 

On his way to his university building, San was talking his ears off whenever he recognized a shop or street. Every new camera angle sparked something in San’s memory about the things he had done with his friends - read: mostly Wooyoung. And Hongjoong had chuckled when they walked past a tattoo shop, which held a story about Wooyoung crying like a girl when they got their matching tattoos. 

It had surprised Hongjoong at first how much San knew about this part of Seoul, since the city was immensely big, but it didn’t take long for Hongjoong to remember that San once lived in  _ his _ apartment, so it wasn’t a wonder San was  _ this _ familiar with the area. 

Hongjoong found it endearing when he heard San’s occasional gasps or other sound effects when he saw the same things Hongjoong saw every day when he walked over to the university. Which wasn’t  _ that _ often though, since his lazy ass always used public transport to get wherever he needed to be. But he thought San would like this. 

He did however regret not bringing his scarf and some gloves, since the weather was getting colder these days, but maybe he could steal Yunho’s later that day.

_ “Oh, isn’t that mrs. Kang over there?”  _ San suddenly quirked and Hongjoong looked to the side to see the old lady walking back in the direction of their apartment building. 

Apparently she had noticed him too and she waved at them. 

Hongjoong waved back at her when he remembered how warm and friendly she had been to him. “Come to think of it, I forgot to ask you something about her,” he said to San.

_ “What about her?” _

“She seemed so close to you and Wooyoung when I talked to her about you,” Hongjoong explained first, “Why’s that?”

_ “Well, first and foremost, she’s Yeosangie’s grandmother,” _ San said, which made Hongjoong a little bit confused as to why she had given him Wooyoung’s number at the time instead of her grandson’s.

_ “So, since we knew each other through Yeosang, I occasionally did some grocery shopping for her when it was too heavy for her to carry. When Yeosangie and Wooyoungie were coming over they did so too,” _ San explained further,  _ “Or we did some other chores whenever needed. At some point it felt like all three of us were her grandsons.” _

“That’s sweet,” Hongjoong mumbled and he made a mental note to ask her if she needed some help any time soon, “But why would she give me Wooyoung’s number instead of Yeosang’s?”

_ “I don’t know,” _ San thought out loud,  _ “Maybe because she knows how close Wooyoung and I were?” _

“Does she?”

_ “I mean, it wasn’t like we tried to hide it,” _ San laughed a little awkward,  _ “And Since Wooyoung is still friends with Yeosang, I think she still sees him on a regular basis? Maybe not as much when I lived next to her.” _

She did tell him that she hadn’t seen Wooyoung for a while, which explained why Hongjoong hadn’t seen Wooyoung near his flat in the past months. And he was actually thankful for that, because it had spared him a whole lot of awkwardness after his interaction with the guy on instagram. 

It didn’t take long for Hongjoong to reach the campus and when he entered the auditorium, he made sure to seat himself all the way at the back, so nobody could see the security footage of his room when he situated his phone so that San could follow along with his lecture as well. He’d kept one earplug in just in case something happened on San’s side of the connection, but to his relief San remained silent throughout the whole lecture.

That day he needed to attend three lectures and he felt a little more spirited than the first few days after the discovery of the ghost. 

The only thing that really sucked now, was his lack of electronic device he could use to make notes of whatever important his lecturer was telling him. His laptop was at home fully occupied by San and now his phone was too.

So pen and paper it was. It wasn’t ideal, but at least his handwriting was readable in comparison to whatever Yunho scribbled. 

When the first two lectures had ended, Hongjoong dragged both him and San over to the outside campus grounds, where he found Yunho and Mingi sprawled out in the grass. Those two were always first to go outside after intense dance classes to cool down a little. Much to Hongjoong’s distaste, because, while the heat radiated from his friends’ bodies, Hongjoong had sat on his ass for at least five hours straight and the cold autumn air made him shiver like San’s hugs did. 

At least there was always an upside.

“Hyung, Mingi bought us coffee!” Yunho yelled when he held his cup in the air. 

“You don’t have to be so surprised about that…,” Mingi mumbled and Yunho playfully jabbed him in his side. 

The duo were always outside a little before Hongjoong, which gave them enough time to head over to the small cafe on the campus grounds to buy them something to drink. 

“What are you listening to?” Mingi asked, referring to the earplugs the older wore, when Hongjoong neared them, since he hadn’t taken them off yet. 

“San,” and Hongjoong smirked when he saw both Yunho’s and Mingi’s baffled expressions turn into excitement. 

“Well, hurry up and put him on speaker!” Yunho urged him. 

Hongjoong unplugged his earplugs and situated his phone on his bag next to him. It was actually Yunho’s idea to put him there, since it gave him the idea that San was really there with them, unlike when Hongjoong would have kept his phone in its original place. 

To be honest Hongjoong couldn’t help but imagine San on his back in the grass looking at the sky, like Yunho and Mingi would do after an intense dance practice. A little bit sweaty, but with a big satisfied grin on his face, like he’d seen in that one video of him and Wooyoung on the other’s instagram story. 

And the way San naturally joined their usual chatter, gave Hongjoong the warm feeling that he was actually there with them. 

“Oh, before I forget,” Yunho suddenly said, when it seemed something had come to his mind, “I looked into the student register of our year, but there was no Jung Wooyoung in there.” 

_ “That is weird,” _ San hummed,  _ “I swear we would have been in the same year as you.” _

“That was if Wooyoung had started this study the same year as us,” Yunho then continued, “He’s actually a year under us.”

It turned out when Yunho couldn’t find the guy’s name, he found it by accident on the registration form for the end of the semester’s stage performance, when he needed to fill that in himself. Wooyoung’s name and class were on there and, since he’d been the tye one fill it in before Yunho, it had caught his eyes.

_ “Why?” _

“My guess is because of you,” Yunho said reluctantly, “Yeosang had told Seonghwa-hyung that he’d felt really shitty after you died. So I think he must have postponed his study a year."

And San hummed. 

The conversation continued for a while longer with San asking about these stage performances Yunho had mentioned. And Hongjoong was sure the ghost would have asked him to bring him along, but he stopped following them when something distracted him. 

Or rather somebody.

“Pss, isn’t that Kim Hongjoong-shi?”

Hongjoong tensed when he heard hushed voices behind him and he hated it with his whole being whenever that happened. Because it always turned out either about a photo and autograph or…

“Is he really?”

“Yeah, look. You should talk to him.”

“What?! No!”

“You like him, don’t you? You should ask him out.”

“Should I really?”

“Yeah, just go. He’s only with his friends now.”

And that was when Hongjoong heard reluctant footsteps nearing them. Of course Yunho and San were too absorbed in their conversation to take note of what was about to happen, but Mingi didn’t seem that oblivious, when he gave Hongjoong a knowing look. 

“Excuse me, Hongjoong-shi?”

Both San and Yunho stopped talking when an unknown voice joined them and Hongjoong turned around to look at a girl about his age with short, black hair. She didn’t look that confident when she gave a quick glance at her friends behind her and Hongjoong felt sorry for disappointing her in advance 

“I-I’m Hwang Hayoon,” she said in a shy manner.

Hongjoong nodded. 

“I-I just wondered if you want to hang out with me s-some time?” She asked as she held out a small piece of paper, which must have had her phone number on it and Hongjoong had a really hard time to keep his expression natural.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t accept your offer,” he said and he hated that he couldn’t look her in the eyes properly, “I hope you have a nice day though.”

For a moment she didn’t make a move as she eyed Yunho, whose lanky body was draped over Hongjoong’s legs, and then at Mingi, before her face twisted in a sour way, “I get it. I’m sorry for disturbing you.” With that she stomped off. 

Both Yunho and Mingi knew what this was about and carefully Yunho crawled out of Hongjoong’s lab to sit on his own. But of course San wouldn’t know.

_ “What was that?” _ San asked,  _ “Why didn’t you give her a chance? She looked pretty.” _

_ “I don’t have time to date someone,” _ Hongjoong simply answered and with that being said the conversation ended. 

-

_ “Thank you for bringing me today, hyung,” _ San said, when Hongjoong walked off the campus grounds. 

After their break the last lecture took ions to end, since it was really boring and San made sure to let Hongjoong know, which made the music major doubt today’s decision of bringing his ghost roommate along. However it wasn't that bad after Hongjoong had lost his concentration as well.

They had played a silent game of charades, when Hongjoong had started to doodle in his notebook and San had begun to judge his drawing skills, until the lecture had ended. 

“No problem,” Hongjoong said. 

_ “Are you gonna bring me tomorrow too?” _

“Don’t know yet,” Hongjoong smirked, “Depends if you keep your mouth shut.”

_ “Hyung~ it was only the last lecture~,” _ San whined,  _ “I promi-“ _

But San cut himself short. 

“What’s up? Is the internet connection failing?” Hongjoong asked when he reached for his phone to check. 

_ “No. No everything’s fine,” _ San said absentmindedly,  _ “Isn’t that Wooyoung?” _

At that Hongjoong looked up, searching his surroundings for a familiar mop of black hair. It took him some time, since black hair was a rather common color, but he then found a boy around his height, carrying a duffle bag over his dark blue bomber jack. He must be going home from his last dance practice of the day since Hongjoong took note of his baggy sweatpants and scuffed up Nikes. 

He walked a little bit ahead of them on the same sidewalk and he headed in the same direction as Hongjoong’s apartment building, but he was yet oblivious to his presence, since he was wearing his headphones. And Hongjoong liked to keep it that way.

“San,” Hongjoong said in a warning manner, “I’m not going to approach him.”

_ “I’m not gonna ask you to,” _ San then said,  _ “Just… Can you follow him for a bit? I wanna know if he still lives where I helped him move in.” _

Well, that was something Hongjoong could do, right…? No stalkerish behavior at all… 

“I’m not gonna follow him all the way home,” Hongjoong complained. Besides, for now he was heading in the same direction they were going, which wasn’t  _ that _ suspicious, right?

Hongjoong followed him in silence, praying to whatever god was present that Wooyoung wouldn’t look behind him. 

At some point Hongjoong thought of this nightmare he had about San every night. For some reason he thought about the assumption he had made about San’s unrequited feelings, even though he was fully aware that it was based on nothing but his imagination. 

In some way Hongjoong could feel San’s longing for his friend. And he didn’t blame him to shamelessly grab every last chance he had to get a glimpse of what could have been his life. To get a glimpse of who he would have spent his life with. Even if it were just in a platonic way. 

Honjoong felt his heart tighten a little in his chest, when he thought about San’s lost life. Any other normal day, he could have walked behind these two, oblivious to who they were. Maybe Yunho would have met them in his class and would have befriended them. 

But the lack of San’s physical presence made him awfully aware that wasn’t meant to be. 

_ “He turned left,” _ San said and he broke Hongjoong’s sad train of thoughts. 

“We’re headed straight ahead,” Hongjoong answered resolute and San hummed in response, “Besides, I still need to do some grocery shopping.“ 

_ “You need me to check your fridge?” _ San asked thoughtful and Hongjoong had grinned when he reached for his phone.

“Actually, that would be really convenient.”

-

_ Snap! _

-

_ “Hyung?” _

San was right beside Hongjoong on his bed, as they were scrolling through his instagram search page, like they usually did before Hongjoong turned off the lights. 

Hongjoong hummed in response. 

_ “Just a question,” _ San announced,  _ “Why did you turn down that girl this afternoon? I mean, she looked cute.” _

“Like I said: I don’t have time to date.”

It was part of the truth. There were actually three reasons as to why Hongjoong turned down her offer. 

First of all; it annoyed the hell out of Hongjoong when his brother’s fangirls declared that they liked him without knowing him properly. He knew there wasn’t much content of his on the internet other than very few outdated interviews and some old songs on Spotify - but nobody really listened to those, so how could they like him other than for his looks from photo’s made during his brother’s premieres? Those weren’t even representable for what he looked like in real life… 

Second of all; he was indeed overloaded with schoolwork, which he really needed to finish, but a certain ghost was occupying his laptop, which made it impossible to properly work on new songs. And now all his assignments were starting to pile up… 

And third and foremost reason; his dating ban. 

It didn’t really bother Hongjoong that was included in the contract he had signed back then and it still didn’t really bother him. However he disliked the way the company kept going on about how they didn't want him to publicly interact with girls that much, since that would make the fans jealous, which could be bad for the sales. 

Hongjoong couldn’t care any less about those stupid sale or those girls, he didn’t even know, but he needed to follow the contract… 

What annoyed him however was the fact that they knew about his dating ban, since it was quite common among young celebrities, but they had this idea that he would make an exception for them… Well, not every one of them… 

Of course there were still people who weren’t familiar with these weird restrictions in the entertainment business. And Hongjoong flinched a little when he thought back to the accident.  _ That _ was a whole other reason why he was so careful around these people. 

That wasn’t due to annoyance… 

That was because of pure fear.

On the other hand, when his dating ban would expire, the company still had their say over who Hongjoong was allowed to date or not. For example, they really disliked it if the news were to find him with another boy… because there had been a few misunderstandings with Yunho and Mingi, which the company rather didn’t think of anymore… 

However, San didn’t really like the short answer Hongjoong had given him,  _ “There sure must be someone you like, if you’re able to turn her down that easily.” _

“There isn’t, San.”

_ “And what about Seonghwa-hyung?” _ the ghost then asked and Hongjoong almost choked on his own spit from the unexpected question.

“San, it's way too late to talk about this…”

-

“Hyung, we brought some wine too!” Yunho yelled when both him and Mingi walked into his apartment after dinner. Seonghwa had already been at Hongjoong’s flat by then.

“Great!”

_ “I wanna drink too~” _ San whined.

When a few days had passed, Yunho had suggested they should do something relaxing with each other since there had been so much suspense and tension for the past days and Hongjoong had agreed with him. He just wanted to drink himself wasted and have some fun with his friends. 

Yunho had also suggested inviting Seonghwa. Just because he knew about San and he was a fun hyung too. 

Hongjoong hadn’t planned for Seonghwa to be there earlier than the other two, but it so happened to be that the officer’s son bumped into him during grocery shopping.

It happened when he had walked past another aisle, since he had been too busy looking at his phone to check off the ingredients he needed. 

“I’m so sorry!” 

“Oh, n-no problem.”

Hongjoong had been a little disoriented at first. And he ignored the helping hand that had reached out for him completely, when he reached out for his fallen phone. It was only when this person had said his name, that he finally recognized the voice he had heard.

“Hongjoong-shi?”

And there in all his glory stood Park Seonghwa. 

“Did I hurt you?” the guy had asked, “I’m really sorry I didn’t see you.”

“If this is a joke about my height, I’m not taking you hand,” Hongjoong had deadpanned, when he had gotten a grip of the situation and Seonghwa had laughed warm hearted. 

“I mean, I wasn’t looking in front of me,” he’d corrected himself, “But so were you.”

He revered to Hongjoong’s phone, when the latter eventually took his hand and got up from the ground. 

“Thanks,” Hongjoong said, “And I’m sorry too.”

“No problem,” Seonghwa swatted and after that an awkward moment followed in which neither of them really knew what to say or what to do. Should he invite Seonghwa over early? Or just say their goodbyes for now?

_ “Just invite him over already…” _

It was then that Hongjoong noticed that his earplugs had unplugged and San was on speaker. 

“Oh, hi San.”

It had become a habit of Hongjoong, whenever he left the house, that he took San with him, but now he wished he hadn’t… 

_ “Oh, hi hyung, I didn’t know I was on speaker. _ ”

Eventually San gave Hongjoong no other choice but to suggest Seonghwa should join dinner at their place. And of course, the older one had accepted it, since he’d nothing else to do. 

However what Hongjoong hadn’t expected was for a goofy and excited guy to follow him back to his apartment. It was a complete mood switch from the serious and businesslike vibe he gave off the last two times they had met and Hongjoong had to admit that he really liked this cute side of him. 

The awkwardness Hongjoong had expected never came and it felt like they had been friends forever when they spoke. It felt so comfortable even to the point San started to whine about being a third wheel. Of course Hongjoong was still careful around new people, but the good vibe Seonghwa gave off, made him doubt that this time. 

After Yunho and Mingi had settled themselves around the table, it didn’t take them long to be a loud and giggling mess. Yunho’s face always got that rouge that spread to his ears and somehow Mingi always ended up being the loudest, defending himself in an offended manner whenever he lost a game. On the other hand Seonghwa’s character broke even more, acting even more funny than earlier and, even though he couldn’t drink the wine Yunho had poured in a glass for him, San joined their mood easily. 

At some point that evening they had decided it was a good idea to sing some karaoke, much to Hongjoong’s neighbors' dislike, because of how loud they were. But Hongjoong couldn’t care any less now.

“It’s so unfair~!” Mingi whined after some songs, “Why does San get to sing through your microphone~!”

All of them giggled, when Mingi pointed disappointed at the soup ladle in his hands. 

“You never let me use you mics~” he whined some more.

Now, Hongjoong wasn’t sure it was because of the alcohol, but Yunho had the genius idea to use microphones for their living room concert, since that would enhance their performance. Hongjoong had been sober enough to be a little bit scared for his real microphones until Yunho reached for his dishwashing brush, which is how they ended up using random objects as their mics. 

Mingi and Yunho had sang a duet of ‘Your shampoo scent in the flowers’ by Jangbeom Jun, Hongjoong had joined them when they’d put up 100% by Block B. Seonghwa had danced, more than he’d sang, along with a song called ‘gotta go’ by Chungha, while San hyped him up like no tomorrow. And so the evening went on. 

While Mingi whined some more, Yunho, Seonghwa and San had the time of their lives as they yelled along with another BigBang song. San’s squeaky dolphin laughter could be heard over the rest when Seonghwa and Yunho went all out.

Hongjoong liked this setting. He liked the carefree mood as if nothing was going on. He liked how Seonghwa blended in perfectly. He liked how it almost felt like San was physically with them. He liked  _ this _ . 

“Hyung, it’s your turn!” Yunho yelled, when the song had ended and he noticed how Hongjoong’s thoughts were drifting off. 

Yes. 

There was no time to dwell on something he couldn’t have forever. 

“I wanna sing purple rain by prince!” Hongjoong yelled and the other three whined against his old-man choice of song.

“Yah, it’s my turn now!”

-

It was actually the next week that Seonghwa told them he and Wooyoung would meet again. Apparently Yeosang had given Wooyoung Seonghwa’s phone number and the younger had contacted him later that evening.

Hongjoong felt even more awkward to sit in the same spot, Yunho and he sat last time, but Yunho insisted, while they set up the same construction as last time, which wasn’t really that impressive, yet it would’ve looked really important if not for how fishy it seemed to everyone who passed their table. 

Sure, they looked like normal teenagers instead of members that belonged to a secret service organization, but maybe that made it even more concerning… 

Hongjoong wondered if the scene would have looked less suspicious if San had been with them, but that idea got shoved out of the window rather quickly when he remembered how stupidly obvious he seemed with Wooyoung.

He sighed.

Now that he was able to bring San with him everywhere he went, it had been hard not to imagine the ghost being physically by his side almost every time. It was stupid. Hongjoong knew, but he couldn’t help himself.

And today wasn’t different, aside from the fact that San couldn’t come with them, it just was convenient. Hongjoong had promised to reconnect through the security app, when Seonghwa had joined them after he’d met Wooyoung and the ghost had agreed. 

Hongjoong shivered a little when he took note of San’s friend. Wooyoung was already out of his work clothing, since he had the morning shift and it was well past noon by now, when Seonghwa approached him. 

_ “Hi hyung,”  _ he greeted Seonghwa first, before he guided them over to the same spot Hongjoong and Yunho couldn’t see them,  _ “I’m sorry about the other day.” _

_ “Nah, no problem Wooyoung-shi,” _ Seonghwa reassured him,  _ “I hope you had a delightful lunch.” _

_ “Yeah…,” _ and Wooyoung didn’t sound convincing if Hongjoong were to judge. 

_ “Is something the matter _ ,” the older asked and Hongjoong thought that Seonghwa really had a good eye for these things.

_ “Not really, just… I guess Yeosangie must have told you already _ ,” Wooyoung murmured and it was actually hard for Hongjoong and Yunho to follow, until Seonghwa spoke up again.

_ “Yeah, Yeosang told me he’s a bit clingy, _ ” which, according to San, was an understatement. 

_ “He does mean well, though,”  _ Wooyoung defended him,  _ “But enough about this, what did you want to ask me?” _

_ “Yes about that,”  _ Seonghwa started and Hongjoong looked up at the cafe on the other side of the street. 

It was just to get a glimpse of the two, but he now heavily regretted it. It was the wrong timing and Hongjoong suddenly was in the wrong place. 

He promptly stood up from his seat, his eyes wide in fear locked with Yunho’s, before he bolted out of the booth. He didn’t even look behind when Yunho sprinted after him, but he didn’t bother to wait for his friend even when he asked him to. 

“Hongjoong!”

No. 

He needed to get away. 

“Yah, Hongjoong! Wait!”

He didn’t. 

He made a straight beeline for his apartment. And normally he wouldn’t, couldn’t even run this fast. His short legs weren’t trained enough and his stamina was shit. Yet the adrenaline carried him far. 

His heart beated fast in his chest, which felt incredibly tight. His lungs were on fire and it actually became hard for him to breathe. If this carried on any longer, he was sure he would pass out rather sooner than later. 

“Hongjoong!” 

No.

Yunho was still there though. Right behind him. Catching up. And it wasn’t until Yunho grabbed him by his jacket, that he collapsed in his friend’s arms. 

However that wasn’t the end of it. The sudden jerk didn’t shake him out of his panic and he breathed uncontrollably until he was on the verge of hyperventilating. His eyes, as big as saucers, looked everywhere in complete distress. 

No… 

No, he didn’t want to stop. 

He needed to go home.

He needed to get away!

Hongjoong struggled to get out of Yunho’s hold, but his friend held him tight to his own broad chest. He didn’t really register what he was saying anymore, blabbering in between frantic breaths that he needed to go home, but since nothing coherently could come out, it turned into hopeless cries.

He knew people were looking. He knew some people were probably filming this, if they knew it was him, which gave him another scare, thinking of his brother’s company and how much they would dislike this stunt.

“Shhh, I’m here hyung,” Yunho hushed, “Just try to concentrate on my breathing.” 

It was a proven method. Yunho would try to hold them chest to chest, his own breathing calming his smaller friend. They had done that before, whenever it happened shortly after the traumatizing accident. However, Hongjoong was in such a severe panic attack right now, that it didn’t seem to work. 

So on top of having a complete, full on panic attack publicly, Yunho decided to pick him up at that moment and run them to Hongjoong’s flat, which luckily wasn’t that far off anymore. He had clung onto his friend for dear life, his face buried in the crook of Yunho’s neck. 

It was embarrassing and he didn’t want to imagine whatever he would find on the internet after this, but that wasn't his biggest concern right now. 

And it wasn’t, until they were safely in Hongjoong apartment, that he would finally cry. Yunho had immediately navigated them towards Hongjoong’s bathroom and put them underneath an icy cold shower to shock the older out of his panic. Luckily, it did and Yunho sighed in relief when his friend finally took in a big breath before thick, salty pearls streamed down his cheeks. 

“It’s okay, hyung,” Yunho said, while Hongjoong grabbed a fist full of his shirt and clung onto him even tighter, “You’re safe now.”

San had kept himself quiet all the while Yunho comforted Hongjoong until the taller one would go and grab some towels. 

When dried up, Hongjoong dragged himself to his bed and made himself so small he could be mistaken for a young child. 

Yunho had walked off to the living room to call Mingi about what happened and to tell him that he was staying the night with Hongjoong, before he called Seonghwa. He probably guessed that their conversation had ended by now, but Hongjoong didn’t really care. 

He just wanted to stay here and wait until he could reincarnate as a rock. Unfortunately there was a ghost that reminded him of the hard reality he lived in right now. 

_ “Everything okay?” _ San asked carefully.

“Does it look like that?” Hongjoong bit back sounding a bit strangled due to his earlier episode. 

_ “No, _ ” San answered in all honesty,  _ “‘you wanna talk about it?” _

“No,” Hongjoong said, even though he knew it was just unfair by now to keep San in the dark like that, “It’s too complicated.” But it finally caught up to the younger. 

_ “Can you stop doing that?” _

“Doing what?” Hongjoong asked. 

_ “Precisely that!” _ San finally shouted,  _ “There is definitely something going on that has you like this and each time I ask you, you just shrug it off like it’s nothing important, while it clearly fucking is!”  _

Hongjoong was completely awestruck when San gave a piece of his heart. 

_ “I just wanna know what the hell is going on so I can comfort you!”  _ San finished off. 

And that did the trick. Well, at first it just made Hongjoong cry again. But it had been a while for someone, aside from Yunho and Mingi, to actually care about him in that way and it made him extra emotional thinking about the fact that he had grown far too attached to his ghost friend. Already thinking one step ahead about the pain when he needed to say goodbye to San, but he wasn’t able to voice those thoughts right now. 

Right now he just wanted a hug. Physical, yet not so physical contact, which had him sit up right and reach his arms out for the invisible, like a hurt child demanding to be picked up by his parents. 

_ “That’s more like it, _ ” San said in a softer tone, when Hongjoong felt his cold aura draping over him. 

Hongjoong didn’t know how long they sat like that, but it wasn’t until he heard soft sniffles that weren’t his nor San’s, that he looked up. 

Yunho stood in the doorway to his bedroom, with a fond smile on his face, while also crying, before he silently walked over and joined the hug on the bed. 

-

They had fallen asleep like that. The three of them, whether San was able to or not. They had stayed like that on the bed until Yunho decided that they should have dinner. While they would normally order take out, the taller knew Hongjoong wouldn’t like the presence of another soul, except San’s, near his flat right now. He could have asked Mingi to bring something, but he didn’t want to bother Mingi anymore. 

So Hongjoong found himself propped up in one of his dinner table chairs, while Yunho readied some instant noodles he had found in one of Hongjoong’s cupboards. 

In the meantime he explained the full situation to San. From his brother’s sudden fame, to the offensive prejudice the public had about him and the traumatic accident from a few years ago. The moment he thought he saw his assaulter that afternoon, Hongjoong just straight out lost it.

San had listened carefully, humming whenever needed and ended up hugging Hongjoong once more. 

_ “I do get it now,” _ San said in a soft voice,  _ “I’m sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable about that.” _

“It isn’t your fault, San,” Hongjoong said, “You didn’t know and I didn’t tell you. I’m sorry.”

_ “It’s okay, better late than never,” _ and Hongjoong could almost hear San smile,  _ “And now I do understand why you didn’t want to go home.” _

It was then that Yunho turned around, sending a questioning look to Hongjoong. 

“The usual,” Hongjoong said to his tall friend, before he turned to San once more, “But the first and foremost reason I didn’t want to leave, was because I didn’t want to leave you alone for such a long time.”

_ “Hyung~!” _ San whined,  _ “I would cry if I could!” _

“Don’t,” Hongjoong said seriously, before he joked, “I’ve already cried enough for the three of us.”

Thereafter it didn’t take long for the noodles to be ready to eat and as per usual Yunho had made a small portion for San too. 

“On a brighter note,” Yunho started, “I called Seonghwa-hyung before we fell asleep.”

_ “How did it go?” _ San asked, after he had jokingly made some slurping noises to fake his eating. 

“Surprisingly well actually,” Yunho said, “hyung asked about you and Wooyoung didn’t really ask why - and otherwise he‘d made up a really good lie. But he said he lit up when he could talk about you.” 

_ “Stop it, I really am gonna cry…,” _ San whined. 

But Hongjoong cut him off, “What did he say?”

“Seonghwa asked a few things about the case and how he felt about the investigation,” Yunho started, “And Wooyoung admitted that it felt a little bit off to him. He could’t believe that it was a suicide, but he didn’t want to go against the police. Yet he said that he knew San wouldn’t kill himself like that, he couldn’t believe it.”

That’s when Yunho stopped for a moment, when they really did hear some soft cries, but both Hongjoong and Yunho decided to let him be for a little bit. 

“The extra information that came with that, was that his boyfriend told him to accept it and let it go,” and Yunho added, “That’s the same guy that rudely interrupted us the first time.” 

Hongjoong nodded. 

“He did tell hyung some details about the crime scene, which were similar to what your neighbor had given us,” Yunho went on, “but there wasn’t really much more. However he kept emphasizing on the fact that he really missed San and he may or may not have cried in Seonghwa’s arms after that. He said something among the lines ‘everyone Yeosang trusts, I do too.’” 

Yunho ended in a mere whisper, mostly because San was straight out wailing by now. 

_ “I shouldn’t have died!” _ he cried out and both Hongjoong and Yunho startled when San’s small cup of noodles hit the ground, spilling everywhere.

“It’s okay, San,” Hongjoong tried, “We’re gonna do our best to find out who did it.”

_ “It is not okay though,” _ he murmured and when Hongjoong had expected a joke to follow up, it didn’t. 

“After hyung spoke with Wooyoung, he talked a little more with Yeosang,” Yunho went on, “he told him how Wooyoung’s boyfriend had practically kept him from grieving properly. Which is why he would occasionally come to Yeosang and cry.” 

_ “I’m gonna kill that asshole too,”  _ San gritted his teeth. 

“Doesn’t sound like we made any progress though,” Hongjoong sighed, "All we know now is that Wooyoung is in a toxic relationship.”

_ “Yeosangie should have kicked him out already…,”  _ San scoffed,  _ “I bet that shithead is now picking on him instead.” _

“Still, we don’t have any real evidence to get the police to start a new investigation, asap,” Hongjoong sighed. 

“I guess we just have to wait for Seonghwa’s dad,” Yunho said too with a deep sigh. 

“We don’t really have another choice, do we?” Hongjoong nodded. 

It was silent for a moment. 

They did everything that was within their reach and power for now, so there was nothing much more to do then wait, at least, in Hongjoong’s opinion.

_ “Yah, I’m crying actual tears right now,” _ San eventually blurted out,  _ “I tell you, this is the weirdest thing I’ve experienced ever!” _

He sounded more awestruck than sad, which had both Hongjoong and Yunho laugh a little, but what they couldn’t see nor hear were San’s tears that silently slipped down his cheeks and dripped to the ground, leaving small circles in the noodle soup on the ground.

-

The next day Hongjoong was exhausted. 

He was actually supposed to go to work after his prolonged absence, because of the whole ‘there’s a ghost in my flat’ situation, but yet again he had to call off. 

He was drained and felt like a hopeless lump of meat when he crashed down on his bed once more. 

Yunho had left late that morning, since he wanted to wait until Hongjoong was awake. They’d sat around the dinner table again and talked a little bit about uni and things young adolescents should talk about. Even San felt comfortable talking and laughing about such stuff, which was a really big relief after all the angst the day before had brought. 

The rest of the day he’d mindlessly played games with San in whatever creative way that made it possible for them to do so. Nonetheless it was fun. 

He didn’t even bother to pick up his phone when it said that his brother’s manager called. It was probably about a video that had captured Hongjoong’s mental breakdown, but he knew the call was more regarding the film that was about to come out than Hongjoong’s mental health… 

He would call back. 

_“We could watch a movie or something?_ ” San proposed after a while, but honestly Hongjoong was too tired to even keep his eyes open.

“You can watch,” Hongjoong murmured, his eyes already closed, “I think I’m gonna sleep for a bit.”

_ “I do understand,” _ San said,  _ “But I can’t turn it on myself though…” _

That made both of them laugh a little, “You know, it would be a lot more convenient if you were still physically able to do such yourself.”

_ “Trust me, I agree,” _ luckily they could joke about it from time to time and Hongjoong stood up walking himself over to his TV. 

_ “Actually,” _ San said,  _ “I have another request.” _

“Tell me?” 

_ “Can I listen to your songs?” _

Hongjoong looked up to wherever San may be, wearing a surprised expression, “My songs?”

_ “I really like them and I want to give them a good listen instead of the crumbs and bits I caught while you were editing and mixing them,” _ he explained which made a warm smile creep up Hongjoong’s face,  _ “And I wanna dance to them.” _

“Sure,” he answered, walking back to his desk to grab his external harddrive to plug it into his tv, since that was the only sound system he wasn’t using to hear San now. 

_ “I really like that last song you were working on!” _ San went on.

“That one isn’t finished yet though.”

_ “I don’t care, I liked the instrumental,” _ San said and Hongjoong did as he said. 

“Have fun dancing,” he said, “Imma lie low for a little while.”

_ “Sleep well,”  _ San said absentmindedly before he started to hum along with the song and he would have done so if it weren’t for San’s singing. 

Don’t get him wrong, it didn’t keep him awake in a sense of annoyance, rather he loved the beautiful melody San had came up with. It was powerful yet graceful and it was exactly what Hongjoong had been looking for before he had to put a stop to his work abruptly. 

“Yah, San-ah?” Hongjoong yelled from his bed, while he got up once more to walk over to his laptop. 

_ “Hm?” _

“Can you sing that again for me?” Hongjoong asked his finger hovering over the record button. 

_ “What I just sang?” _ San asked for confirmation and Hongjoong made an affirmative noise. 

“Can you sing it directly into the microphone for me, please?”

And with that Hongjoong no longer thought of sleep. 

_ “Like this?” _ San had asked after a few other recordings with Hongjoong’s guidance. 

“Yes, exactly!” 

The rest of the afternoon they had worked on Hongjoong’s song, finishing the demo version with San’s vocals. And it sounded even more beautiful when Hongjoong managed to get San’s voice to sound as clean as possible, the distortion almost completely gone. 

“So that’s what your real voice sounds like,” Hongjoong joked. 

_ “Yeah, kinda weird to hear it after such a long time,” _ San hummed.

“You couldn’t?”

_ “Not until I heard it through your speakers,”  _ San explained,  _ “before that it kinda compares to when you talk to yourself in your head, if that makes any sense.”  _ And Hongjoong nodded. 

_ “Anyways, I’m really glad I could help you with your song _ ,” San beamed. 

“Yeah, thank you,” Hongjoong smiled, “I’m pretty sure this is gonna be a hit one day.” 

_ “I hope s-“  _ but San got cut short when someone knocked on the door. 

They didn’t expect any guests for the rest of the day and Hongjoong was pretty sure it couldn’t be Yunho or Mingi, because they would’ve just barged in with their spare key. For a brief moment he thought that it could be his brother’s manager or maybe his brother himself, but he would never go ahead and just go outside with the risk of getting abused by sasaeng fans… Maybe it were his parents? 

When he heard the sound of knocking once more, he decided to get up and open the door, only to end up with a surprise, which even had San audibly gasping. 

“Hey, one of your neighbo-“ but Wooyoung cut himself off when he recognized Hongjoong, “You?” 

“Hey you, too?” Hongjoong said awkwardly, not really knowing what to do now. 

“What the hack,” Wooyoung put his hands in his hair out of disbelief and he laughed, which sounded quite worrisome if you would’ve asked Hongjoong, “Is that why you contacted me on insta?” 

Hongjoong gulped, since he knew what Wooyoung referred to. He must have visited his older neighbor, who must have brought up their conversation, or better said: Hongjoong’s blatant lie. Shit. What was he supposed to do now?!

“Why didn’t you just say so?” Wooyoung asked. 

“I-i,” Hongjoong was completely tongue tied. 

“Can I come in so you can show me?” Wooyoung then asked, “Besides, you owe me a proper explanation.” 

“I-it’s kind of complicated,” Honjoong stuttered, not really sure if he should let Wooyoung in, but the younger had already passed him through the door.

“That’s okay, I got the time,” Hongjoong hadn’t though. His recording session with San had used the last bit of his energy and he really felt like he could fall asleep any moment now. 

He sighed and still gave in, but only because he thought that San would’ve wanted to see Wooyoung, “Would you like something to drink?”

“Do you have some coffee? I could use some after work, hehe,” Wooyoung sounded a lot more upbeat than over the phone and it really confused Hongjoong. 

“I only have instant coffee though,” Hongjoong said, “I hope that doesn’t disappoint you?” 

“Nah, it's fine,” he said, “That’s uni life, isn’t it?” And Hongjoong hummed. 

He was kind of surprised that Wooyoung wouldn’t refer to his brother's wealth this time, which made Hongjoong feel a bit more at ease, yet not off guard. 

_ Thumb. _

“Wha, that scared me for a moment,” Wooyoung groaned when a book fell from Hongjoong’s shelf. It had startled Hongjoong himself as well, but he knew it was San’s doing to let Wooyoung know of his presence. 

“Oh, that happens,” Hongjoong shrugged, when he poured in some coffee for Wooyoung. 

“What do you mean?” Wooyoung lifted an eyebrow curiously.

“Just as I say it,” Hongjoong repeated, “It happens.” 

“That’s kinda creepy dude,” Wooyoung noted, “And is it me or is it cold in here?”

Hongjoong saw how Wooyoung visibly shivered and he had a hard time to keep himself from smiling fondly at where San must be: next to Wooyoung.

“Depends,” Hongjoong just said. 

“Can you stop being so cryptic?” Wooyoung asked, “You’ve been over the chat as well. Tell me, how did you know about Amicus ad Aras? Because, again, you don’t strike me as the person who’s  _ that _ invested in strangers.”

Now the conversation was going to become a little harder… Maybe he just needed to tell Wooyoung about San. There were two possible outcomes anyways. Either Wooyoung would think he’d gone crazy and turn him in to the police or he would believe him, which sounded not so plausible at all. 

Luckily for Hongjoong, San decided to make himself present once more by fucking up his lighting. 

“Whaa~, you really should get your apartment checked,” this time Wooyoung sounded a lot more scared when he whined, while Hongjoong was used to this prank, “Is this apartment haunted or something? It wasn’t like this when Sannie lived here…” 

“It happens from time to time,” Hongjoong explained, “Although it did happen a lot more up until a few weeks ago.” 

“Oh, what happened,” Wooyoung asked, interested and completely forgetting his previous question, while he grabbed the warm coffee mug Hongjoong handed over to him.

Here we go…

“It’s hard to explain,” Hongjoong said reluctant as he sat across from Wooyoung.

“Well, go on,” Wooyoung pushed him. 

“I-i think, no, I  _ know  _ this is San,” Hongjoong said in a soft voice. 

It was silent for a moment and the lights flickered once. Hongjoong guessed that San tried to confirm what Hongjoong said, but Wooyoung just stared blankly at the older. 

“Excuse me?” 

“Look,” Hongjoong started and he knew he was about to ramble, “I’m not in the possession of a sixth sense, but I can hear San because of my music program. And because his death was rendered suicide his soul can’t leave this apartment and now me and my friends are trying to solve his murder so he can pass on to the afterlife. So please help us!” 

Up till now Hongjoong didn’t know San was able to facepalm himself, but he unmistakably heard the unmistakable sound of his hand hitting his forehead. All the while Hongjoong had looked at the table, not daring to look at Wooyoung, who must think he had gone mad. 

“Wow,” he finally said. 

“I’m sorry,” Hongjoong murmured. 

“C-can you show it to me?” 

Huh?

“How it works, I mean,” Wooyoung asked, “I wanna know if you're telling me the truth.” 

Hongjoong looked up in disbelief. 

“Uhm, I-i guess so,” Hongjoong nodded and he stood up to show Wooyoung his his music program. 

“As you can see there’s neither wifi nor bluetooth connection,” Hongjoong pointed out, “This is the input to my microphone and here is where you can see the volume and soundwaves.” 

Wooyoung nodded, before a shiver went down his spine. 

_ “I missed you Young-ah,” _ San’s voice sounded strangled and Wooyoung’s eyes widened. 

“Wow…,” was all that came out. 

_ “How’ve you been?” _ San asked.

“Not so good without you,” he admitted and Hongjoong could see how the boy was on the verge of crying. 

_ “I’m sorry,” _ San said, and Hongjoong really felt like leaving this scene, because it felt way too personal for his liking. 

“Don’t be,” Wooyoung said, “I just know it wasn’t your fault. And I swear, Kim Hongjoong, if this is a prank, I’ll have your head!” 

Hongjoong laughed awkwardly while San tried to convince Wooyoung otherwise,  _ “How would hyung be able to do that? He didn’t even know me  _ before _ I died.” _

“Sannie?”

“Yeah?”

“Just don’t say that for now,” Wooyoung said, sounding a bit more serious and San hummed. 

_ “Hey, Young-ah?” _ San said in a softer tone this time,  _ “Amicus ad Aras?” _ And that was all he needed to say before Wooyoung ended up a crying mess. 

After that they didn’t talk much. The next two hours were mostly filled with San trying to comfort his friend and just some small talk, before the friends noticed how Hongjoong could barely stay awake in his desk chair, his eyelids threatening to fall shut. 

“Maybe I should leave,” Wooyoung suddenly said, “I, uhm, I kinda forced you into this while you were clearly exhausted.” and Hongjoong couldn’t even properly respond to that anymore. 

“Could you show me the way out?” Wooyoung asked politely and Hongjoong hadn’t thought anything of it, rather than it being a bit of an odd request. But so he did. 

At the doorway, however, Wooyoung stopped and turned to give Hongjoong a tight hug, “I don’t fucking know what to think of this, cause it got me pretty much shocked to say the least, but I do believe it for now.”

Hongjoong hummed and hesitantly hugged Wooyoung back.

“And if you need any help with that investigation of yours, I’ll gladly help,” Wooyoung said when he released him, “I kinda expected there was something going on with Seonghwa-hyung suddenly asking about San anyways.”

So much for their acting skills… 

“Hey, Kim Hongjoong-ah,” Wooyoung said loud, before he showed an expression Hongjoong hadn’t seen that evening yet, and in all shyness he added, “Thank you.” 

_ “ _ Bye Sannie!”

_ “Amicus ad Aras!” _

“Amicus ad Aras!”

-

_ Snap! _   



	3. Part 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please, take anything police related with a big grain of salt, because I'm by no means an expert on that topic.
> 
> Anyways, I hope you'll enjoy this last part :)

**New! Kim Hongjoong in distress! What happened?**

_Video attached_

**Kim Hongjoong seen crying in public! What’s going on?**

_Yesterday Kim Hongjoong (22) was seen having a panic attack in public. Bystanders filmed him in the arms of a tall man, who’s, according to Kim’s instagram account, an acquaintance._

**Kim Hongjoong seen in the arms of a man!**

_Could it be his boyfriend? Click_ _here_ _to find out…_

**Kim Hongjoong Dating Jeong Yunho?**

**New! Hongjoong reported to be having an affair!**

_Video and photos attached_

**New! Anonymous testify: Kim Hongjoong steals my boyfriend!**

_According to an anonymous witness, Kim had been stalking his boyfriend for a while, watching him during work at the cafe across the street and contacting him through instagram. Reportedly someone unknown had been seen leaving Kim’s apartment with a tight hug. Photos attached._

**What will this affair mean for Kim Hongseok's sales?**

_See_ _here_ _what Kim Hongjoong’s slip up has cost his brother’s sales…_ ****

_Three missed calls from ‘Jeong Yunho’_

_Two missed calls from ‘Song Mingi’_

_Five missed calls from ‘Hyung’_

_Thirty missed calls from ‘The worst manager hyung could have gotten’_

_Now_

**Group chat:** **_Stream MiniHong on Spotify_ **

**[Jeong Yunho; 07:59]**

Hyung

Are you awake yet?

You should really check the news

**[Jeong Yunho; 09:06]**

Hyung?

**[Song Mingi; 09:34]**

Should we come over?

_Yesterday_

**[Park Seonghwa; 13:48]**

Hey

Are you feeling better?

_Now_

**[Park Seonghwa; 08:07]**

_ Has send you an article _

Hey, I don’t know if you’re up yet

Why was Wooyoung at yours yesterday?

Because, I don’t assume what they’re saying here is true?

  
  


It was about ten AM when Hongjoong finally woke up to urgent knocks on his front door and San, who kept whining for him to get up. 

_“Hyung~, yah~ hyung?”_ It almost sounded like he had been going for it for a while now, since he didn’t really put any effort in waking him up, _“Yah~ hyung? There’s someone in front of the door, yah~ hyungnim~.”_

“Whosthat?” Hongjoong mumbled, having somewhat trouble opening his eyes while trying to sit up with not much success.

_“Ah~ Kim Hongjoong-shi is finally among the living once more,_ ” San sounded like a really sarcastic reporter, before he chuckled, _“Yah~, hyung, seriously, I thought you died on me.”_

“Hm,” Hongjoong hummed, guessing that he must have slept really fast until now. 

_Knock knock!_

Again someone knocked on Hongjoong’s door. 

_“This has been going on since eight AM,”_ San whined, _“How come you slept through that?”_

Hongjoong shrugged, when he dragged himself out of bed to the front door. He didn’t care to get himself dressed first, since he didn’t expect someone important. But who would knock on his door since eight in the morning?

Now, he wouldn’t say that he regretted not getting out of his pj’s first. He just regretted getting out of bed and opening the door at all. 

When Hongjoong opened up, he was immediately blinded by the many flashes of cameras. There were a few reporters in front of his doorstep, who reacted immediately upon Hongjoong’s sudden presence and eagerly started to ask for answers. 

Just one glimpse was enough for him to shut his door at once. No fingers nor feet were harmed in the process, yet he wished he had, so they would leave him the fuck alone!

“What the fuck,” he breathed, definitely awake right now. 

_“Hyung?”_ San sounded timid, _“What’s going on?”_

The reporters got even more restless now they knew Hongjoong was indeed at home and the few that were in front of his doorstep kept yelling his name and random questions for him to hear. However he had no idea what they were talking about. 

So after putting his door on an extra lock, which he barely used, he went to grab his phone only to see the mess of notifications he got. 

Eventually he decided to call Yunho, since that seemed to be the safest option. 

It ringed once. Twice. And then he picked up. 

_“Hey, hyung, I got Mingi on speaker with me,”_ Yunho immediately said. 

“There are at least four showbiz reporters with their cameramen in front of my doorstep, what the fuck did I do?” Hongjoong asked, sounding a little bit worried. 

_“Well, at first people had seen your breakdown and filmed it,_ ” Yunho explained, _“T-they think I’m your boyfriend - again, because I was there to calm you down and brought you home.”_

Ah, that… 

Hongjoong could hear Mingi’s laughter, which got followed up by a soft squeal and indicated that Yunho must have jabbed him in the side. He imagined a pout on Yunho’s lips and he smiled a little, kind of forgetting what this was about, because up till now it was nothing new to them. 

Hongjoong and Yunho, or Hongjoong in combination with Mingi, had been accused of dating before, because they were just close friends. Not as close as San and Wooyoung, but there was enough affection for the press to think of their friendship as more. It was nothing new to them, yet it flustered all of them from time to time. 

“But I guess, that’s not all,” Hongjoong sighed, letting reality take over once more. 

_“Yes,”_ Yunho confirmed, _“The day after someone filmed a person leaving your apartment. You hugged and everyone assumed there was something going on. Then an anonymous person on the internet accused you of stealing and stalking his boyfriend. He saw us in the cafe the other day. There are pictures.”_

Wooyoung. 

They saw Wooyoung leave his house. 

And he frowned. He guessed that Wooyoung must have his phone number by now and he had unblocked him on instagram, so the younger would definitely have contacted him by now if he’d seen the news. 

At first he guessed it was nothing serious and he and Wooyoung just needed to leave a statement on their social media there was nothing going on, but then the cogs in his head started to turn. Especially when San said the next thing. 

_“Does sound like something Woo’s boyfriend would do.”_

_“You think so?_ ” Mingi asked. 

_“Yeah, he accused me plenty of times,”_ San sighed. 

_“That sucks man,”_ Mingi groaned. 

Now, maybe Hongjoong just thought a step too far, but jealousy was a very strong emotion. If this _was_ Wooyoung’s boyfriend’s doing and if this guy was capable of ruining Hongjoong like that, because of a simple hug, why wouldn’t he… 

No. 

That was too big of a step. 

He wouldn’t shoot someone and fake that someone’s suicide, because of pure jealousy, now, would he?

Hongjoong shook his head violently. 

_“Did that asshole of a manager call yet?”_ Mingi then asked. 

“I got about thirty missed calls,” Hongjoong sighed, “I just hope he won’t have my head for this…”

_“It does seem like they make a pretty big deal out of it though,”_ Mingi said and that didn’t make it sound any better. 

_“Should we come over and scare them off?”_ Yunho eventually asked, referring to the reporters in front of Hongjoong’s flat. 

_“Can’t San just scare them off now?”_ Mingi suggested. 

_“Yah, I’m not his guard dog!”_ San whined, but Hongjoong thought it honestly wasn’t a bad idea, if it weren’t for the fact that they would probably have an extra item to write about him. He could already picture the headlines: ‘Kim Hongjoong roommates with a ghost.’

After some time on the phone the yelling outside died down, which indicated that the reporters must have had enough of waiting. In the meantime he had sent some heads up to Wooyoung about the whole ordeal, so he wouldn’t be surprised if he found lots of reporters on his doorstep. He suggested that he shouldn’t answer any questions and to stay at home. It was better to ignore them. Now he only needed Wooyoung to agree on leaving a statement on his social media regarding the, so called, scandal. 

He expected his brother’s company to mingle with the whole issue, but maybe they would keep off his back when Wooyoung would address the misunderstanding himself. Yet he hadn’t replied to him and Hongjoong noticed that he hadn’t been online today. He just hoped he wasn’t on the other end of his boyfriend’s jealousy streak, because that would really suck. Or maybe worse, his brother’s company had already found him… 

It was around noon when he hung up and showered himself. He’d thought of making it an all pajama day, but he kind of did that yesterday already and he felt gross. He didn’t plan on leaving the house for today so he simply put on a pair of joggings with a somewhat oversized shirt on top. 

“What should we do today?” Hongjoong asked San, since he just needed to wait for Wooyoung to respond now. At least that’s how he solved his problems. Even if it wasn’t to the liking of his brother’s manager. 

_“Ooh, could we play some more games?”_ San asked, eager to play, and it turned a fond smile on Hongjoong’s face when he imagined San bouncing on his heels like an excited kid.

“Sure,” Hongjoong had replied, and he had walked over to his TV already when his front door busted open quite aggressively. 

What the heck?! Had the reporters rammed themselves into his apartment or something?!

Yet he wished that were the case when his brother’s manager stormed into his living room, followed by a rather strong looking boy. Whoever that must be, it didn’t look like Hongjoong would win from him and it was probably one of those assigned bodyguards that had lingered around him after the first accident. 

Hongjoong looked startled at the manager, who gave him a severe look, “We’re going to your parent’s home.” 

What…?

“We’ve asked you politely through your brother to keep yourself at bay, your parents even offered you to stay over at their place, but apparently that was too much to ask,” his brother’s manager sighed, “It was stupid of me to think we could trust you. Do you know how much under fire we are at the agency right now?”

Hongjoong was too tongue tied to even try and answer the rhetorical question. 

“While the company takes care of this whole scandal that you caused, you’ll be put on a public hiatus,” the manager said, already moving forward to grab his arm, but Hongjoong jerked away, finally finding it in himself to oppose. 

“Hongjoong-shi,” the manager gave him another severe look, before Hongjoong responded.

“Why won’t you ask me first if it’s true or not?” Hongjoong folded his arms over his chest.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s fake news or not,” the manager answered, “it exists and therefore causes trouble for the company and you’re brother’s career.” 

Unbelievable… 

“But you can’t just barge into my house and force me to come with you?!” Hongjoong raised his voice, “I’m not a little kid anymore.”

“Well you clearly act as one if I have to trust what the news says,” the manager bit back, but what came after had Hongjoong even more flabbergasted, “And with that being said, I want to remind you of a certain contract back at the company which has _your_ autograph on it.” 

Hongjoong gaped at the man in front of him. There were so many emotions which flooded through him right now that he didn’t know if he should bite his tongue or if he had lost it. But mostly he just felt anger. Anger towards this inhuman manager and anger towards himself. Anger towards his brother and anger towards… whoever the hell tipped these reporters with fake news.

“If you just cooperate, you’ll be back in your tiny flat in two months and we’ll forget that this happened,” the manager continued. 

“I’m not going,” Hongjoong said resolute, “What about my study?” 

‘We will take care of that.”

“I can’t go,” Hongjoong finally said, “There’s also someone I need to take care of.” 

“The company is taking care of _him_ right now,” the manager smirked, “I refer to your contract once more: _we_ will take care of everything.” 

That confused Hongjoong for a moment. This manager couldn’t possibly know about San, because that was who Hongjoong was talking about albeit in a cryptic manner. Clearly he didn’t want this man to know about his roommate. But who was _he_ talking about? _Who_ were they taking care of?

Hongjoong's confusion must have shown on his face, because his brother’s manager explained, “Jung Wooyoung is his name, right? My colleges are at his place now.”

Oh… 

Well that explained why Wooyoung hadn’t responded to all his messages yet. But he doubted if that was any better than him being at the other end of his boyfriend’s wrath. 

“I ask you once more Hongjoong-shi,” his brother’s manager went on in all seriousness, “Just leave your stuff here and let Jongho take you home.” 

No. 

He couldn’t leave San alone. Even though he knew that nothing could happen to the ghost and that he could manage fine by himself. Hongjoong, for some reason, couldn’t bear the thought of leaving him alone. He remembered how the ghost had complained about being lonely before… 

But why was a part of him hesitating… even though he wanted to stay with San, he was still tied to a contract. And if he didn’t do as said… 

“You know the consequences when you won’t follow along according to what your contract states, Hongjoong-shi,” the manager threatened once more, “It states that we can keep you on a temporary hiatus from the public eye whenever a scandal occurs. And I would follow along if I were you if your music is really _that_ dear to you.”

Hongjoong cringed at the manager’s words. He knew all too well what those consequences were. The consequences stated that he would get blacklisted by his brother’s company, which meant that he would never be able to get hired as a producer and rapping artist in the Korean music and entertainment industry. It was honestly pure blackmail and Hongjoong wished that he’d never told them about his dream when he was fifteen and innocent to these devils.

So, even though he wanted to stay with San, he had no other choice… 

Fucking bastard.

“Now, Jongho will bring you home.”

And with that the buff boy walked up to a defeated Hongjoong, “I’m sorry. Try not to move too much, since I don’t want to hurt you.” he said when he grabbed his arm. But that advice went straight out of the window when Hongjoong saw this monster of a manager walk over to his laptop. And he knew exactly what was about to happen.

“No! No don’t shut it off!”

“You won’t be here for a while,” he said, “It’s a waste of electricity to keep it on.”

“No! Don’t touch it!”

But he didn’t listen.

“San-ah!” 

And with that being done, Jongho brought a somewhat struggling Hongjoong over to the car. The bodyguard was being oddly gentle with him. It reassured him that the boy wasn’t a real dickhead unlike his brother’s manager right now. And if he was supposed to guard Hongjoong, he guessed that was the better end of this horrible situation. 

“Stop sulking and accept that this is best for you right now,” the manager sighed, when Jongho finally got Hongjoong in the car. 

“Besides, you need to talk to real people instead of propping yourself up in your room and giving your stuff names.”

-

“Hongjoong!” 

When the car arrived at his parents house, Hongjoong didn’t hesitate to run past his parents straight to his room. He knew he had no chance of running away, given that Jongho would catch up to him without even trying, and this way he had a chance to inform Yunho and Mingi about the situation, before his phone would be taken from him. 

His parents had already opened the door when the car turned up their driveway, but Hongjoong ran past them, not even sparing them a glance. He would have thought of it as immature, but who would blame him now? 

He was glad his parents had kept his room the way it was before he left to live on his own. Which made it a lot easier for him to hold his family, the hellish manager and their new bodyguard off his back a little longer. 

The door shut with a loud bang, before he locked it and he would have shoved some furniture in front of it for extra protection, but the only thing left in his room that was movable, was his bed, which was way too heavy for Hongjoong to push around. So he hastily sat in front of it himself, before he dialed Yunho’s number. 

Hongjoong’s heart was racing in his chest when Yunho didn’t pick up immediately. It rang at least three times before he heard Yunho’s voice, _“Hey, hyung wh-”_

It wasn’t Hongjoong who interrupted him from the start, rather the voice of his father who called for him and Hongjoong’s heavy breathing, which stopped him, _“You’re home.”_

“Yunho, you need to check on San!” Hongjoong said when he heard footsteps in the hallway, “He shut my laptop!" 

Halfway through his sentence Hongjoong already heard a door opening on the other side of the connection, _“Mingi and I are on our way.”_

“My password is: pirateking2309,” Hongjoong blurted out, “Please hurry up.”

_“Hyung, it’s me,”_ it was Mingi this time, _“Yunho gave me the phone, he runs faster.”_

Hongjoong nodded even though he knew Mingi couldn’t see that, “It’s Wooyoung’s boyfriend.”

Mingi was silent for a bit. Only his heavy breathing on the other side of the phone could be heard.

“ _He_ must have seen Wooyoung at my apartment yesterday,” Hongjoong went on quickly when he heard someone rattle at the door handle on the other side. He knew they’d talked about it already that morning, but the panic caught up to him, “ _He_ spread the fake news. It isn’t true!”

_“I know, hyung,”_ Mingi reassured him, sounding a little bit out of breath due to his running, _“But what makes you sure_ he _spread the rumor all of a sudden?”_

“San,” Hongjoong answered as fast as he could, “San told me about him.”

“I’m gonna open the door, Hongjoong-nim,” it was Jongho’s voice on the other side of the door, “I don’t want to hurt you, so please stay away.” Hongjoong didn’t though. 

On the other side of the connection Mingi hummed in response to what Hongjoong had previously said, _“But San told us about him too, hyung,_ ” he said, _“You need to be a little more specific than that.”_

“They have Wooyoung too,” Hongjoong blurted out, when he felt the first time Jongho kicked against the door, ignoring what Mingi asked for completely. 

_“Hyung, isn’t this escalating a little too much?”_ his friend questioned and Hongjoong would like to agree with him, if it weren’t for that stupid contract, _“What do you mean they have Wooyoung too?”_

“My brother’s company,” Hongjoong clarified, “They’ll drag him into this mess and I don’t know what they’re gonna offer him, but whatever it is, I don’t trust it! Nor do I trust what his boyfriend will do after that.” 

“Why aren’t you busting through the door?” His brother’s manager had apparently joined the bodyguard as he asked Jongho, rather annoyed. 

“He’s in front of the door, sir,” Jongho explained, “I can’t guarantee that I won’t hurt him.”

But the manager must have heard Hongjoong was on the phone with somebody, “You’re good for nothing bodyguard, I do it myself!” He said before he mumbled, “I don’t know why they send someone like you, if you won’t even do as told.”

Hongjoong felt another bang against his back. Stronger this time and Mingi must have heard, _“Hyung, what the hell is going on?”_

A third bang hit his back and Hongjoong cringed when he heard the wooden door crack, “Just make sure Wooyoung is safe too.”

_Bang! Crack!_

Hongjoong fell forward when his door completely cracked at the fourth kick. He felt how some splinters scratched his back right through his t-shirt and his chin hit the floor rather violently. But due to the shock his grip on his phone loosened and the phone flung across the room.

_“Hyung, s-should I call the police?”_ Hongjoong heard Mingi from afar when he tried to scramble to his phone as fast as possible, but the manager was faster.

“No!”

Sadly, within a heartbeat this manager turned his phone off, cutting off his connection with Mingi, before he shoved the device in his pocket. 

That was when Hongjoong gave up. 

-

When Yunho had passed his phone onto Mingi, he ran as fast as he could towards Hongjoong’s apartment. He almost got run over by a car in the process, which got Mingi screaming behind him, and he was sure as hell that he ran through several red lights, but he made it to the flat in record time. 

He may or may not have crashed against a wall or two when he ran up the stairs, since the elevator would take way too long, and he dropped the keys at least two times with his trembling hands before he finally got into the apartment. 

“San-ah?!” 

But no one answered, so he hastily made his way over to Hongjoong’s laptop. He tapped rather impatiently on the desk when the laptop took several minutes to restart and Yunho inwardly cursed at Hongjoong for having such an old model. 

When it finally showed him the lock screen, he typed in the pass word, before it took a few other minutes to reopen everything from the last session, which Yunho was really glad for since that would mean he didn’t need to do anything other than wait for San to speak. 

Only if that were the case. 

“San, can you say something?” Yunho managed to say in-between heavy breaths, but nothing happened. 

His eyes went from the screen over to the interface to check the input and volume, but he knew jackshit about music programs. His knowledge didn’t go beyond the simple stuff, but maybe Mingi would know some more, since he’d work with Hongjoong before. 

But then again, Hongjoong had never mentioned to them what the hell he had done to his program that he could communicate with the death. All they knew was that he just heard San the other day. Nothing special had happened that triggered this connection, so why wouldn’t it work now?

“Can you at least give me a heads up or something,” Yunho sighed, when he slumped back in Hongjoong’s desk chair, too out of breath to stand on his own legs any longer. It was then that he finally felt the all too familiar shiver go down his spine and Yunho let out a deep sigh in relief. 

“Thank god.”

“Yah, Yunho!” He startled a little from Mingi’s loud voice. 

“I’m here!” He yelled before Mingi ran straight to where he expected his friend to be. 

“They’ve gone completely mad,” was the first thing he blurted out, while making wild gestures with his arms, “They kicked in his door, Yunho! I heard it over the phone!” 

“Mingi, calm down,” Yunho said when he took note of the distress his friend was in, before he stood up from his chair to grab Mingi by his shoulders and got him to put his arms down, “What happened?”

“He has been taken home and…,” Mingi gulped between two heavy breaths, “I asked hyung if we should call the police, but he told me not to before he hung up. Yunho, this is bad… shouldn’t we just call the police?” 

Yunho didn’t know the answer to that question. They’ve been in very weird situations before because of Hongjoong’s brother’s company’s questionable choices in approach, but never had they threatened, let alone dared to keep Hongjoong hostage… They could get in serious trouble if the authorities were to find out. 

But Hongjoong had also told them about that damned contract he was under. 

“This is so fucked up,” Mingi breathed out as he slumped into Yunho, who hugged his friend in response. 

“We’ll find a way to deal with this,” Yunho said as he shortly patted Mingi over his back, when a shiver went down their spines. 

“Oh, hi San,” Mingi sighed. 

Still no response. 

“About that...,” Yunho said and Mingi looked up confused, “we may have a slight problem.”

While Yunho went ahead to call Seonghwa about this situation, Mingi had sat down behind Hongjoong’s desk to try and fix the connection. 

And while they waited for Seonghwa to show up, Yunho tried several alternative ways to communicate with San, which eventually resulted in Yunho sticking the whole alphabet to the wall with sticky memo’s he’d found somewhere in a drawer. Since San was able to make the letters drop to the ground, so Yunho could decipher what the ghost wanted to say. To make it a bit easier he also added two memo’s with ‘yes’ and ‘no’ on it. 

It was about twenty minutes later that Seonghwa showed up, but he wasn’t alone. Yet nobody really seemed to be bothered by this person’s presence, when he followed Seonghwa into the apartment. Seonghwa had warned Yunho over the phone that Yeosang was with him, but Yunho didn’t really care now. Besides, he was a friend of San too and maybe he could help with this whole situation.

“Has Mingi fixed the connection with San yet?’ Seonghwa asked when he draped his jacket over one of the chairs, but he could already guess by the sticky notes on the wall that there hadn’t been much success yet. 

“San?” Yeosang asked confused, but again he got completely ignored.

Yunho shook his head, “Mingi’s on it, but we still can’t hear him.”

“Hear him? San?” Yeosang asked again, yet Seonghwa went ahead and asked another question. 

“What happened exactly?” 

“Hyung got kidnapped and they shut down his laptop and now we can’t connect with San anymore, because the settings in the music program are probably different,” Yunho explained with a little more detail. 

“Music program?”

“Wait what?” Seonghwa asked, before Yunho explained the whole situation with Hongjoong’s family and his brother’s company, who are interfering with their lives because their existence makes or breaks the money and fame it brought them. He told him about the call he got from Hongjoong this afternoon. 

“Did he tell you why Wooyoung was at his apartment yesterday?” Seonghwa then asked, “Because I get it that whatever’s being spread isn’t true.”

“I don’t know, he didn’t tell,” Yunho said, “But on the other hand… I forgot to ask him when we spoke to him on the phone earlier this morning.”

“Wooyoung was here?” 

“Does he know about San?” Seonghwa asked, but Yunho could only shrug. It was San who was quick to answer by making the little sticky note with the word ‘yes’ on it drop to the ground.

“Well, there’s your answer,” Yunho mumbled when he picked up the memo. 

“What is going on?” And finally the two looked at Yeosang, who’s eyes were fixated on the memo in Yunho’s hands, “Why are you talking about San as if he’s here…”

Yunho and Seonghwa locked eyes for a moment, before Seonghwa said, “Because he _is_ here.”

His mouth opened and closed a few times when it looked like he wanted to say something, but Yeosang remained silent, looking between the two indecisively.

“I don’t think I understand what you’re talking about,” he said eventually while looking away from them. 

“It’s a little bit hard to explain,” Yunho said, before he gave the short version of what had happened the past weeks, but Yeosang didn’t look that convinced.

“That makes no sense at all,” he mumbled. 

“If you want proof I can ask San to show you?” Yunho tried, but San already made himself present by making a book fall from its shelf, which startled all of them for a moment. 

Yeosang gaped at the book on the floor. 

“Well, there you have your answer,” Yunho laughed awkwardly when he walked over to pick up the book, which happened to be a notebook with the words ‘Amicus ad Aras’ on it and he made sure to show Yeosang. 

“This is insane,” Yeosang said in a soft voice after yet another brief silence. 

“It does sound unreal,” Seonghwa agreed, “But it is true.”

Yeosang looked around to try and tell where San was, but to no avail. He did however visibly shiver and Yunho tried to smile at him, “he probably hugged you.”

“You can tell?”

“Well, all I can tell is that it feels cold when he’s close,” Yunho explained some more, “I think it’s his energy or something like that?” 

Yeosang nodded when he absentmindedly grabbed his shoulder as if he tried to hug San back, “And Wooyoung knows this?”

“Apparently,” Yunho confirmed, “But it must be since yesterday, because hyung would have told us otherwise.”

“Wooyoung hasn’t told me either,” Yeosang said doubtfully, “He’d told me he went over to his boyfriend.”

“Why would he lie about that?” Seonghwa asked, but Yeosang shrugged.

“He was acting a little odd though when he showed up late at my place yesterday,” Yeosang then said with the same doubtful expression on his face, “Normally he would call me if he could come over and he seemed a little confused, now I think about it.”

“Must have been after he went to hyung,” Yunho thought out loud and the other two hummed. 

“Yeah, that must be it,” Yeosang hummed, “I thought it was because he’d had another fight with his boyfriend.”

“They fight?” Yunho and Seonghwa asked in unison and Yeosang nodded. 

“And sadly enough Wooyoung still hasn’t broken up with him,” he nodded and continued, “He did stay the night at my place, but when I woke up he wasn’t there anymore. He’d left a note which said that he needed to do something, but I have no idea what that could be. He hasn’t picked up his phone when I called him either.”

At that moment Mingi chose to make himself present, “Hyung told me about Wooyoung.”

They looked up at where Mingi’s voice came from, “He did?” Yunho frowned when his tall friend walked into the living room. 

“After you handed your phone to me,” Mingi explained, “He probably tried to tell me that the people from his brother’s company were over at Wooyoung’s place too and then he rambled some more about not trusting his boyfriend.”

“Yeonbin?” Yeosang asked.

“He didn’t say his name,” Mingi frowned. 

“San said something about that this morning too,” Yunho frowned.

“They’re both not wrong though, Woo’s boyfriend is a jealous asshole,” Yeosang said, “Of course he’s gonna give both Hongjoong and Wooyoung a hard time because of this.”

“Would he?” Seonghwa asked.

“He talked shit about San before,” Yeosang explained, “It wouldn’t surprise me if he wants to make things worse now too. Especially since Woo broke up with him.”

The other three frowned, but it was Seonghwa who asked the question all of them had in their mind.

“You think he’s jealous enough to have started this all?” 

Even though Yunho and Mingi heard San answer that question this morning, it still felt a little too extreme to accuse someone of. But what did they know about that guy? For all they knew he really was a terrible person. 

Yeosang looked like he was in deep thought, before a determined expression showed on his face, “He would definitely do something like that.”

And at that Yunho slumped into the nearest seat with a sigh. This was a mess. If he hadn’t pushed Hongjoong to help San, this wouldn’t have happened. If he hadn’t been so persistent and set on going on with this, Wooyoung wouldn’t have showed up at Hongjoong’s doorstep and he wouldn’t be in this shitty situation at home. 

No, that wasn’t it. 

Hongjoong wanted to help San too. 

And could he blame Wooyoung for his toxic relationship with a guy so jealous he would cause a major fuss all over the internet to get him to himself?

“What do we do now then?” Seonghwa asked, “Do you think we should inform the police?”

“I don’t know,” Yunho sighed. 

After that Yunho and Seonghwa had watched how Yeosang tried to talk with San, while Mingi went back on working on the connection. 

Yeosang had sat on his knees in front of the post-its that occasionally fell from the wall. And Yunho had to admit that it looked cute. Yeosang didn’t cry though, even though he looked rather convinced of the whole situation. He just looked worried, while he told San about his worries for Wooyoung. 

“Hey Yunho,” Seonghwa spoke up in a hushed voice and the younger looked up from the cute scene, “About San’s case.”

“What about it?”

“My father hasn’t told me anything new yet, but I don’t think he’s getting anywhere either,” Seonghwa expressed his worry and Yunho frowned.

“But I do think that we need to hurry up,” Seonghwa continued, “It’s a feeling I have.” and Yunho nodded.

“What do you have in mind we do then?” he asked.

“Leave that to me,” Seonghwa said, “If I’m lucky I’ll have something by tomorrow.”

“And what do you intend to do then?”

“Just trust me.”

-

After his brother’s manager had taken his phone, Hongjoong hadn’t come downstairs to greet his parents. His mother however had come upstairs to hug him, but Hongjoong wasn’t in the mood the slightest, so he had locked himself up in the bathroom for a while instead. 

His brother on the other hand must have been at the company or something, because he hadn’t heard him all day. It saddened him a bit that his brother hadn’t, or rather couldn’t, come up to him and reassure him that he would fix something for him. That he would fix something for his little brother so he could go back to his apartment as fast as possible.

And no one else had come up to him to either comfort or nag him, but Hongjoong was grateful for that. It gave him the right amount of peace to think. To make up a plan to get away. He didn’t know if Mingi had alarmed the police already, but given that still nothing had happened yet, he guessed that they didn’t.

On the other hand his thoughts kept wandering off to San. He hoped that turning his laptop off didn’t affect anything. And he hoped that Wooyoung wasn’t held hostage any longer than necessary by his brother’s company. If so, he hoped that his boyfriend spared him too. 

_Knock knock_

Hongjoong looked up from where he sat, when he heard soft knocks on the bathroom door. 

“Hongjoong-shi?” It was Jongho, but Hongjoong didn’t respond.

He felt a little bit sorry for acting so immature to the newly assigned bodyguard, since he hadn’t kicked him, nor really manhandled him in the past hours. He was just doing what he was told to do. Well, from what Hongjoong had heard, he didn’t do a good job yet.

“I just want to check on your back,” he said, “is it okay for you to let me in?”

His back?

Oh, yes. 

He faintly felt the sting from the many splinters that probably still stuck in his back from the crash earlier and he definitely wasn’t able to clean that himself. And he didn’t want to imagine the big bruise forming on his back, which had taken the full blown impact. 

Jongho didn’t kick through the door. That much Hongjoong knew. And he knew Jongho didn’t want to hurt him. 

So did he trust Jongho?

Probably. 

He knew for sure that he could trust him more than his family right now. 

And so Hongjoong scrambled up from where he was sitting and over to the door to unlock it. But before he opened it he asked, “You’re alone right?” Just to be sure. 

“Yes, I’m alone.”

When Hongjoong opened the door, he saw that the guy held a small first aid kid, before he yanked him inside by his arm and quickly locked the door again once both were inside. Without much talk the two sat down on the cold floor so Jongho could easily tend to Hongjoong’s wounds. 

Yet the moment the cold bathroom air hit his back Hongjoong hissed.

“It doesn’t look as bad as I expected, hyu- Hongjoong-shi,” Jongho corrected himself.

“Hyung is fine, if you want to call me that,” Hongjoong said, removing his shirt completely, but he hadn’t guessed that the guy was younger than him. 

“Thanks,” Jongho said, “I’m gonna remove the splinters now.”

Hongjoong nodded. 

They sat in silence for a while, before Jongho softly started to hum a song. It was nice and peaceful and Hongjoong visibly relaxed, even though he occasionally tensed up whenever Jongho would pick at a bigger splinter. 

“When I applied at the company I didn’t expect it to be like this though,” Jongho said at one point. 

“Trust me, me neither,” Hongjoong pouted, “Sadly I can’t get myself fired.” 

Jongho giggled and Hongjoong thought it was cute.

“How old are you?” He asked.

“I’m twenty,” Jongho said. 

“That’s pretty young,” Hongjoong nodded, “Why would you apply for such a job at your age?”

“I didn’t,” he simply answered, “I applied at the company for a job as a singer, but they sent me out on this job instead. Don’t ask me why, I don’t know either.”

“That’s pretty shitty,” was the only answer Hongjoong could give and Jongho nodded. 

“But I’m kinda glad I’m here now,” the younger said in response.

“Thank you.”

“No problem, hyung.”

-

To say Hongjoong had a hard time falling asleep that night was an understatement. His stomach rumbled like crazy since he hadn’t come downstairs to eat with his parents and his brother still wasn’t home. Jongho had brought a small dish for him upstairs, when he was assigned to watch Hongjoong, but he didn’t feel like eating either. 

He had tossed and turned in his bed until it was about four in the morning and he wondered if Jongho was sleeping in the chair next to where the door to his room used to be, but he didn’t want to leave his bed.

On the bright side he guessed that he wouldn’t experience that nightmare tonight. He still didn’t know if San triggered the dream or if it was his own imagination, but he had experienced enough other nightmare fueling stuff that day that he expected his dreams to be different, if he were to fall asleep. 

His thoughts wandered off to San for a moment. 

Would he, Yunho and Mingi be okay? 

He hoped so. 

At least San wouldn’t be alone, because he guessed that his giant friends would stay at his place to keep the ghost company. 

Then he wondered if Wooyoung was okay. If he had gotten the chance to go over to his place and talk with San. If his brother’s company had offered him something in exchange for his compliance. If his boyfriend had done something to him… 

That’s when the lights started to flicker behind his eyelids. 

The lights flickered…? 

Hongjoong frowned when he opened his eyes to see if Jongho or maybe his brother was trolling him, but when he sat up in his bed he saw neither of them standing by the light switch. There _was_ standing a person though, however it wasn’t someone he expected to stand there. 

“San?”

San, who had a big smile on his face, turned himself to Hongjoong once the older had realized the ghost was there, with him, and he stopped playing with the lighting.

“Hey, hyung!” San skipped to his bed, which dipped when he sat next to Hongjoong. 

Hongjoong couldn’t believe his eyes. San was there with him. He could see and hear him. He could see San’s messy black hair, his fox-like eyes that became small crescents when he smiled. He could hear San’s laugh and his enthusiastic tone when he seemed so happy to see Hongjoong. 

“Am I dreaming?” He must have fallen asleep. This couldn’t be real. 

“Yep,” San smiled and a part in Hongjoong felt really disappointed because of that confirmation, but the other parts felt even more confused. 

“But this is really you?” It was a weird question to ask and Hongjoong didn’t really know what to accomplish with this, but San’s smile softened.

“Yes,” he said, “cool, right?”

Hongjoong nodded, before he subconsciously reached out for the younger, who understood what he was about to do and hugged his hyung back. 

San felt so real in Hongjoong’s arms. He could feel his firm body through his clothed skin as he realized that San looked like the version of him in the first photo he had seen of Wooyoung and him. Hongjoong just didn’t want to believe that this was a figment of his imagination. 

“Yunho and Mingi came,” San said, “I’m not alone.” 

Hongjoong nodded, because he knew. 

“Seonghwa and Yeosangie came too,” he then added and that had Hongjoong perk up, “I hugged with him. It was really nice.” 

“What are you talking about?” 

“Yunho asked Seonghwa to come and Yeosangie tagged along,” San said, “It was hard to communicate with Yeosangie since Mingi can’t get your mic to pick me up again, but Yunho thought of an alternative way in communication for the meantime.”

This really wasn’t a normal dream if it was one. 

“San please answer me honestly,” Hongjoong said when he tried to look into San’s eyes for the first time, “Am I talking with the real San from my apartment, right now?”

And San smiled a warm smile, before he said, “It’s nice to see you finally look into my eyes.”

Wow.

“You don’t know how frustrating it felt when you looked completely next to me every time,” San pouted and Hongjoong laughed hysterically happy when he finally saw the protruded lips he’d imagined all this time. 

“Hyung, everything okay?”

“Better than ever!” Hongjoong laughed when he flung his arms around San’s physical body once more. 

They fell on the bed and San smiled when he hugged his hyung back. 

“I don’t want to ruin this moment,” San said after a while, “But I do think that this dream is for a reason.”

“I don’t want to get up,” Hongjoong murmured, “Let me hug you forever.”

“I want to hug you forever too, hyung,” San pouted, before his tone turned a bit more sad, “But you know we can’t.”

It was Hongjoong’s turn to pout this time, “What is the purpose of you being in my dream then?”

“I don’t know,” San shrugged when they sat up right on the bed, “I guess we need to find out.” And he gestured towards the hallway. 

Hongjoong saw how the light in the hallway was on, but for some reason the hallway looked different. It looked familiar, but it wasn’t the hallway from his parent’s home. 

It was the hallway from his flat. 

“Shall we take a look?” San asked, before the both of them walked into the hallway. 

Hongjoong had looked surprised when he didn’t see Jongho next to his door opening, but then again, this was some sort of weird dream, so he followed San into their living room, or rather, San’s old living room. 

Ah, they were in this dream. 

San looked surprised and weirdly nostalgic when he walked through the flat, “This is what my place looked like.”

And Hongjoong nodded, “I know.”

“You know?” San asked, when he placed a frame, which held a photo of him and Wooyoung, back on the cabinet he was standing next to. 

Hongjoong hummed, “I mean, I assumed, since I’ve seen it in my dreams before.”

“Wha~, really? Why didn’t you tell me?” San asked, amazed and Hongjoong liked the expressions by the voice he’d come to know. 

“I didn’t think of it as much,” he admitted, “I thought it was my imagination.”

San pouted, “That’s a shame.”

The younger went on inspecting his old flat, when Hongjoong did so too, until he saw a familiar smartphone laying on the table. 

“That’s yours, isn’t it?” Hongjoong asked, pointing at the device and San nodded when he walked over. 

“It is,” he said and frowned at the display, when a notification popped up. It was the messages Wooyoung had sent him right before San died. 

**[Wooyoungie <3; 15:56]**

Okay

See you in ten

“You know,” San said, when he frowned at the last message, “I never saw Wooyoung after that text.”

“I know,” Hongjoong said and San looked up with a confused expression on his face. Maybe he needed to explain what the dreams in his apartment had shown him and so he gave him a short summary. 

“So you’ve seen these texts before?” San asked unsure and Hongjoong nodded. 

“I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s okay,” San sighed when he sat down in the same chair he would sit in in Hongjoong’s nightmares, “I think you’ve got your assumptions about this then?” 

And Hongjoong nodded. 

“You know, when you asked if Wooyoung and I were dating,” San started, “It wasn’t like I didn’t want to.” He finally admitted, “I wish we were, but I was a coward.” 

“I guess you didn’t want to ruin your friendship,” Hongjoong added and San nodded. 

“When Young-ah sent me these texts I thought I had ruined his relationship with Yeonbin, because he found out about my real feelings toward him,” San sighed, “I never really got to find out what he wanted to talk to me about though.” 

Hongjoong nodded. 

“I guess you didn’t want to tell him yesterday,” Hongjoong said.

“No!” San exclaimed, “I already made him cry… what would he think when his supposed to be dead friend’s ghost told him he had been in love with him for the years he’d been alive? That’s fucked up…” 

It was. 

“You’re right,” Hongjoong agreed, “W-when this is over though, do you want me to tell him?”

San was silent for a moment and he frowned, “I don’t know. I don’t want to make him feel any more sad about all this.” 

Then loud knocks were to be heard once more and both Hongjoong and San flinched. 

“The end of the dream is near, I think,” San guessed and Hongjoong nodded, “Do you want me to open the door?” 

This time it was Hongjoong’s turn to hesitate, “I don’t want this dream to end.”

“Me neither,” San agreed, “but we can’t stay here forever now, can we?”

“Since when did you become so wise?” Hongjoong pouted and San showed him a grin. 

“Now, come on hyung~,” San whined and the guy on the other side of the door began to knock impatiently. 

“Can I at least get another hug from you?” Hongjoong asked timidly, but San was eager to hug his hyung one last time. 

“Can’t you just haunt my parent’s house for the upcoming two months or so?” Hongjoong asked as he sunk into San’s embrace. 

“I wish I could.”

_Knock knock_

“Well, let’s not put this off any longer, “ San said when he let go of Hongjoong, “Shall I open the door?”

Hongjoong nodded and both walked to the door. San placed his hand on the handle, but he hesitated for a moment, like he always did in Hongjoong’s dreams, but this time Hongjoong put a hand on San’s shoulder to reassure him. 

“It’s a dream,” he said, “It can’t hurt you.”

“Not anymore indeed,” San said more to himself than to Hongjoong.

“But if you feel better that way, I am right behind you,” the older said, when he placed a hand on San’s shoulder. He knew he hated the next scene, but he hoped it was at least a bit more bearable after seeing this so many times.

At that San nodded and opened the door. 

_Bang!_

Upon opening it, the bullet went straight through San. Luckily there was no blood and San didn’t fall to the ground.

None of them moved at all. 

It was as if this frame had frozen.

Hongjoong however duck behind San, so he didn’t have to look at the face of _his_ assaulter. 

“H-hyung,” San whispered.

Hongjoong didn’t respond though, holding onto San’s shoulder for dear life. Hiding behind his friend so he didn't need to face his biggest nightmare. 

“Hyung, _he_ murdered me…,” it was a mere whisper. 

What? Hongjoong’s assaulter was San’s murderer? Well, as far as Hongjoong knew his assaulter got away with it back at the time. But if they could find the right evidence to charge him it was like killing two birds with one stone. 

“Hyung, look,” San said and Hongjoong dared to peak at the freeze frame in front of him, like San told him. 

“You need to warn Wooyoung.”

-

Did Seonghwa approve of what he was about to do? 

No. 

Was he proud of what he was about to do?

No. 

Did it need to happen? 

Yes, most definitely. 

Even though Seonghwa’s father hadn’t raised him like a criminal, he sure was about to commit a crime his father wouldn’t be proud of either. And he certainly didn’t want to think about the higher authorities… 

After he’d left Hongjoong’s apartment, he’d told Yeosang he needed to do something and that he would come to his apartment later that night. That something being stealing the files belonging to San’s case, but he didn’t tell his friend that.

It was late in the evening now and Seonghwa found himself in front of his father’s office building. He knew it was heavily secured with cameras and all - for god sakes it was the fucking police station, but he just hoped that his confident attitude and luck would bring him far enough. Oh, and his father’s keycard, which he had stolen from his pocket, of course.

And his perfect son would bring that card on his way to a friend… 

It was an incredibly stupid idea of him to walk into his father’s office to see if he could steal the files belonging to San’s case, but he needed to find out who had done it and maybe his punishment wouldn’t be that severe afterwards if he found the real culprit. If he found out which officer was corrupt to the core.

He just hoped that he didn’t get found out before that. 

Seonghwa gulped before he crossed the street. He was really about to do this… and before he entered the building he pulled his cap a bit more over his eyes.

As confidently as he possibly could be, he walked past the entrance, pulling out his father’s keycard to get past the first security gates. 

His father had told him to call him when he was there, so he could pick them up and Seonghwa could go to his friend without a hassle, but that wasn’t according to his plan. He would just play it that he hadn’t heard him, besides, he had been at his father’s office before. He knew the way and his father’s colleges knew Seonghwa. 

So he didn’t know why the hack he was acting so damn suspicious right now! 

And there wasn’t even anyone in the entrance hall. Not like he really expected to be. It was pretty late and he’d heard his father talk about that sometimes, annoyed about the fact that the newbies didn’t have as much dedication for their work as he had.

If that really were the case then that must be really worrisome though. 

“Hey Seonghwa, your dad’s upstairs,” the security guard at the entrance said, “he forgot his keycard again this morning, didn’t he?”

Seonghwa had startled a little, but he smiled at the guard that recognized him, “Yeah, I’ll drop this off and then I’ll be going again.”

“No problem,” the man said and he waved him off, before his attention went back to his computer, where he guessed he was watching the live camera footage, but he needed to hold a scoff when he heard some hushed lines from a sit-com coming from the man’s direction. 

Well, he guessed that there wasn’t much to do this late in the evening, but this wasn’t supposed to give him confidence in stealing from a police station… 

He didn't dwell on it too much and walked over to the elevator. His father’s office was on the fourth floor and he walked straight over to where his father was seated. He was glad that for once there weren’t any colleges of his father to swoon over how much he’d grown up.

“Hey, Seonghwa, I thought I’d told you to call me when you were downstairs?” He looked up from his monitor, when his son walked into view with his keycard in his hands.

Seonghwa smirked at his father, “I thought I’d told you not to forget these anymore,” he joked.

His father raised from his chair and walked over to give his son a hug, “Can’t you give your dad a break already?” 

“Were you thinking too much about the strange suicide case?” Seonghwa asked and his father frowned when he let go of his son. 

He sat back in his chair and frowned some more when he looked over at his monitor, “You could say that, yes.”

“Any success in obtaining access to all the files?” Seonghwa asked acting like the thoughtful kid he was raised to be. 

“Still not everything,” he sighed, “I know all the files are physically filed away in the basement of the building, but without an official statement I won’t get any access to those files.” 

“Not even when you think there’s something fishy about it?” Seonghwa asked, but his father shook his head.

“I don’t have any evidence to support my suspicion,” his father sighed. 

“And what about the files in the cloud?” 

“You sure have a lot of questions today,” and his father nudged him in the side, “Why don’t you sit down, while I get us both a coffee as a thank you for bringing my keycard?”

Seonghwa nodded and grabbed a chair from another desk.

His father walked off to the coffee machine on the other side of the department, while Seonghwa sneakily grabbed his usb out of his pocket. 

It was now or never. 

His father couldn’t properly see what he was doing from over there and he had too much faith in his son to lock his screen before going off to get some caffeine. 

This was illegal in so many ways… he thought when he plugged the usb in the computer. 

“You want sugar in your coffee right?” His father asked from the other said of the department. 

“Yes!” Seonghwa said, when a notification went off from the usb that had been inserted. 

“What was that?” 

And Seonghwa gulped before he lied, “Oh, just a system update notification.”

“Again?” His father complained, “technology these days…” 

“Are they so annoying then?”

“They always fuck up the log-in codes,” he sighed.

When his father focussed on the coffee machine once more, Seonghwa looked over at the screen to search for the files about San’s case and he dragged them over to the usb. However he did turn off his father’s volume this time, before any other notification would sound over the department.

He was a little bit sad about the fact that his father didn’t have the full access to the information, but maybe this was enough evidence for them to find out who had done it. And now he just hoped that the coffee machine was old enough to do ions over just two simple cups of coffee, because this computer sure enough was old enough with how slow the loading bar proceeded. 

Come on… 

_Clunk!_

“Aish-!”

Seonghwa startled when he heard his father swear, “What happened?”

“Ah, just dropped a cup,” he said, “I’ll be downstairs for a bit to get the cleaning equipment!”

“Okay!” And Seonghwa saw his father leave with the elevator. 

Maybe luck was on his side after all. 

Okay, knowing his father he would talk with the guard downstairs plus the fact that he needed to search for the cleaning equipment, gave him approx. ten minutes. Ten minutes to do what?

Seonghwa clicked on the file and tried to open one of the documents. 

_Homicide department_

Enter password for access: ___

Homicide department? Wasn’t this case rendered a suicide? His father must know about this. But that was just an important detail he needed to file away for now. His first priority was getting into the document. 

Now what could that password possibly be?

Oh…

Didn’t his father just have a major slip up? The log-in codes changed whenever there had been an update! And his father didn’t whine about it just now for nothing. He just hoped his deduction skills were anything to go by. 

Fingers crossed

Homicide department

Enter password for access: Welcome

Seonghwa’s eyes widened when the pop-up disappeared and the file opened. 

Fuck.

It worked?!

Without looking at the contents Seonghwa dragged the file over to his usb, quickly closing the file as he waited for the loading bar to proceed.

He actually felt ashamed for his father’s police department at how amateurish this was. If a university student could break into their strictly protected files, how were they supposed to protect their citizens? And he felt sorry for his father and how proud he was of his field of work. 

“I’m back,” his father said when he suddenly came from the stairs this time. 

Already?!

Seonghwa had startled in his seat, since he hadn’t expected his father to use the stairs when he had been so focussed on the sound of the elevator. He hummed in response, acting as normal as he could. 

Please hurry up…

Luckily, right before he father finally came back to them with two coffee in his hands, the loading was completed and Seonghwa janked the usb out of the station as fast as possible, before he stuck it neatly in his pocket. 

“About Choi’s case,” his father said, when he said down, “He lived in the same building this Kim Hongjoong lives now.”

What?

“Didn’t you say you were looking for an apartment, when you stumbled upon Choi’s flat?” He asked and Seonghwa nodded. 

“It had been an old advertisement, I quickly found out that it was already being rented to someone else,” Seonghwa tried to talk himself out of it. 

“It was just conspicuous to me when it was in the news now,” his father hummed, “I just feel sorry for Seo.”

“Officer Seo? As in your boss?” Seonghwa asked, “What has he to do with this?”

His father had mentioned his boss before and Seonghwa had even met the man once when he was still young. He didn’t like him. He seemed fake and there was something about him that gave Seonghwa the shivers, if his memories from then were still legit.

“Well, his house was being bombarded by reporters because of the news,” his father only half explained and Seonghwa gave him a confused look, “I told you about Yeonbin once, right? Officer Seo’s son? Well, apparently Yeonbin’s boyfriend cheated on him with this Kim Hongjoong.”

Seonghwa frowned at what his father just said. He really wanted to correct his father and tell him Hongjoong wouldn’t do such a thing. That he wouldn’t _ever_ do such a thing, but how was he going to explain to his father that he suddenly knew the semi celebrity? Of course he could say that he knew him through Yunho, which was true, but in what circumstances?

However this new information about Wooyoung’s boyfriend really added on to his feelings about the guy. Now he definitely disliked him. 

“Hey, thanks for the coffee, dad,” Seonghwa said, when he stood up from his chair, “I’m heading over to Yeosang.”

“No problem,” his father said, “Thanks for my keycard and say hi to Yeosang for me. Kang Yeosang from kindergarten, right?”

Seonghwa nodded, “I’ll say hi to him for you.”

-

_Knock knock!_

Yunho blinked a few times to adjust his eyes to the light when he woke up. Where was he? Oh, yes, Hongjoong’s apartment. 

He had been so exhausted last evening after Seonghwa and Yeosang had left, he had fallen asleep on Hongjoong’s bed. He hadn’t been planning on sleeping in his own apartment, because of San, but he hadn’t expected to wake up with half of Mingi’s long limbs draped over him either. 

His friend, still asleep, had dumped his body next to Yunho onto Hongjoong’s single bed. Yunho guessed that he didn’t want to go as well, but he had to admit that this situation was rather ‘cozy’ to put it lightly. 

_Knock knock!_

“San, is that you?” Yunho asked, half expecting an answer from the ghost which never came. 

_Knock knock!_

It didn’t sound like the knocks came from inside the flat and then the realization hit Yunho: there was someone standing in front of the door.

Carefully Yunho got away from underneath Mingi’s limbs and stumbled his way over to the door. He hadn’t changed into any proper clothing for sleeping last night and he could smell his own sleep on himself, so he hoped it wasn’t anyone important in front of the door. 

But it sure was someone impatient.

“Calm down…,” Yunho mumbled more to himself than the stranger on the other side, “I’ll open the door already.”

Yunho blinked some more when the bright light from outside shone right in his face upon opening the door and he almost didn’t register how Seonghwa walked immediately past him with Yeosang in tow.

“Good morning to you too, hyung,” Yunho mumbled.

“Good morning, Yunho-ah,” Yeosang smiled when Yunho let him inside.

“You too, Yeosang-ah,” Yunho said, “Why the hurry?”

“Hyung wouldn’t tell me either when he showed up at my apartment last night. He’s all weird since then,” Yeosang pouted, before he shivered, “Oh, hi San."

“Okay, I need Hongjoong’s laptop,” Seonghwa said to Yunho, who still tried to wake up. 

“Why you need it for,” he stumbled over his words, but then Seonghwa showed him a small usb as an explanation.

“What’s that?” 

“It may contain information about San’s murderer,” Seonghwa then said and Yunho suddenly felt awfully awake.

“What now?” 

“Hyung, what did you do?” Yeosang asked.

It was then that San made himself present once more when he dropped a book. None of them looked up or even startled, too focussed on the usb in Seonghwa’s hand. 

Yunho slapped himself a few times, before he whined, “Hyung~, we’d promised we wouldn’t do anything illegal?!”

“Wait, did you steal the information from the police? Why would you do that, hyung?!” Yeosang gasped. 

“Because there’s some corrupt officer out there, who’s guilty of evidence fraud,” he simply said, “This needs to resolve right now!”

Another book fell from the shelf, while Yunho and Yeosang just gaped at Seonghwa before he continued.

“Yes, I was at my father’s office last night and copied the files on my usb,” he said, “But that isn’t the important part now.” And he already walked over to Hongjoong’s desk to stick the usb in the station of his laptop. 

Yunho and Yeosang followed him into Hongjoong’s room, where Mingi was still sound asleep on the bed. Seonghwa sat himself down in the desk chair, while he opened the contents on the usb.

“It isn’t going to show any photos of the crime scene right?” Yeosang then asked a bit reluctant of what to expect from the files Seonghwa had stolen. 

“I don’t know,” Seonghwa said as he clicked on the first document. It was a simple pdf, no photos included. 

_The case of Choi San has been handed over to Officer Seo Yeonjun._

“Why does that name sound familiar?” Yunho asked. 

“It’s my father’s boss,” Seonghwa explained, “I met him once when I was younger.”

“Isn’t that Yeonbin’s father?” Yeosang then asked and Yunho looked up at Seonghwa who seemed to remember something. 

“Yes, my father said so yesterday, when he referred to Hongjoong’s scandal,” Seonghwa frowned, “But that means he had known San through his son. My father had told me that they aren’t allowed to investigate cases that are related to them. So why was it handed over to him?”

“Does it say something else?” Yunho was finally curious enough to dive into the contents of the usb. 

“It’s just two pages,” Seonghwa frowned at the screen, “But the second one says something about a money transfer.”

“What’s that for?” Yeosang asked, “Does it say to whose bank account?”

“Not specifically,” Seonghwa read further, “It does say something about firearms which needed to be paid. This must be a receipt of some sorts, I guess?”

“That’s weird,” Yeosang noted, “Why would they add something like that in a folder about San’s case?”

“This was the restricted document I downloaded last night,” Seonghwa added, “Do you think it might have something to do with the gun at San’s apartment?”

_Knock knock!_

“It’s stated over there that the money used to buy the firearm came from a bank account with the initials S.Y.,” Yunho said as he read through the pdf.

_Knock knock!_

“Do you think Officer Seo has killed San?” Yeosang asked reluctantly. 

_KNOCK KNOCK!_

All three of them looked up when they finally heard the frantic knocks coming from inside the flat.

“San?” Yunho asked.

San confirmed his presence by knocking again. If only that stupid music program still worked… Yunho did note that San sounded way more desperate than the day before and he walked over to the living room, guessing that the ghost wanted to say something to them. 

The knocking stopped when Yunho saw how several memo’s had fallen to the ground. He walked forward and crouched down to see which letters San had pointed out. 

“B E I O N S and Y,” Yunho said out loud, “Couldn’t you have waited until I were there to see the order?” 

“Seo Yeonbin,” Yeosang then said. 

And San was quick to respond by dropping the memo with the word ‘yes’ on it to the ground.

“What?” Yunho was a bit flabbergasted before the frantic knocking started again and it had him sticking the memo’s back on the wall. 

“Warn,” Yeosang mumbled out loud when the letters fell to the ground, “Who?”

Again San knocked and Yunho stuck the letters back, but the first two letters of the following name were enough to ring the alarms.

“Wooyoung!” Yunho yelped and San knocked in confirmation. 

“I’m on it!” Yeosang said, when he grabbed his phone out of his pocket to call Wooyoung. 

To say Yunho was in some sort of shock was an understatement. Somehow there was a short circuit in his head, but at the same time he couldn’t stop the dots from connecting. It made so much sense now. 

The first time Wooyoung broke up with his jealous boyfriend, San ended up dead. Shot through the heart upon opening the door. Then Seonghwa formed a threat at the cafe and now Hongjoong. It made so much sense that the guy wanted to get Hongjoong out of the way. This guy was mental! 

“How did San know?” Seonghwa asked, confused, “He hadn’t seen the face of his murderer, had he?”

“I don’t know,” Yunho said as he looked back at the memo’s, “Maybe he remembered?”

At that the ‘yes’ fell from the wall once more. 

“What do we do now?” Yunho asked. 

“I think we should call the police,” Seonghwa said, but before Yunho could protest against that idea, he explained, “First and foremost about this kidnapping thing that’s going on. That way we can link it to Yeonbin.”

Yunho nodded, that sounded as a good first step, even though Hongjoong had been against calling the police, because of his contract… but this couldn’t go on like this. 

“Oh, thank god, you picked up,” Yeosang sighed when it seemed Wooyoung had picked up the phone, “Where are you?”

Yunho could barely make out what Wooyoung said on the other side of the connection, but what he could hear was that the other was at home. 

“Good,” Yeosang said, “You need to come over to Hongjoong-hyung’s apartment.”

“What? Are you over there? What are you doing there?” 

“That’s not important now,” Yeosang said in all seriousness, “But you can not go back to Yeonbin.”

“What?” Wooyoung sounded confused, “I wasn’t planning to anyways, I just broke up with him. For good this time.” 

Yunho didn’t know how to feel about that right now, given how _that_ played out the last time Wooyoung broke up with that psycho. But he knew for sure that he felt a dreading feeling of unease in his stomach. 

“Okay, I’m going to call the police now.”

-

“Hongjoong?” 

Hongjoong didn’t look up when his mother entered his room with a plate with toast. He hadn’t come downstairs for breakfast that morning either and he knew that his mother was concerned about him, but he was just being stubborn. 

Besides, he was planning for the right timing to jump from his window from the first floor. Not completely unsecured! He’d seen plenty of people in movies tie their bedsheets together and secure it to their window frame, before they climbed out of the house. 

It wasn’t the most graceful or heroic method, but he needed efficiency other than running through the front door, because he knew that the hellish manager was downstairs with his parents. And that guy would definitely run after him instead of Jongho.

Jongho on the other hand had laughed a little when he’d caught Hongjoong red handed, sneaking some sheets into his room. Luckily for Hongjoong the young bodyguard kept his mouth shut and helped him tie the sheets together, before he tightly secured the end of it to the window frame. 

Hongjoong knew it was stupid to flee, because that manager from hell would definitely have him blacklisted in the whole entertainment industry if he got away, but after his dream that night he couldn’t sit still and do nothing. 

San’s murderer was Hongjoong’s assaulter from a few years ago. And on top of that… it was Wooyoung’s boyfriend, or so San had explained when they came to the realization Hongjoong’s dreams were right all this time. 

San promised to tell the others and get them to work on it, but he wasn’t planning on waiting till he would be released from ‘jail’. And certainly not when the feeling of unease caught up to him. He couldn’t explain the feeling other than dread and the ‘what ifs’ in his head made his imagination run wild. 

What if Yeonbin did something to Wooyoung? What if Wooyoung’s boyfriend was out for _his_ head now? But he wasn’t home… Yunho and Mingi were!

Hongjoong’s heart rate had picked up since that thought. 

“I know you’re mad at us,” his mother said when she sat next to him on his bed, “but you can’t starve yourself.”

“I’m not hungry,” Hongjoong said, but his stomach betrayed him when it rumbled loudly. 

“Hongjoong, please, eat something,” his mother pleaded this time, “You haven’t eaten ever since you’re here.” 

Hongjoong didn’t answer this time, hoping his mother would leave him alone, so he could finally make his great escape.

_Ringgg!_

Both Hongjoong and his mother looked up when the doorbell rang. Who would visit them? It couldn’t be his brother, because he had a key and he guessed that the company, as always, kept the reporters off their backs here, unlike at Hongjoong’s flat. 

“Who’s there?” his mother asked when she walked over to the stairwell. His father had already walked over to the door downstairs.

“There are two officers in front of the door,” Hongjoong heard his father say and he gulped. 

Shit. 

Did San ask the others to call the police? And if so, why would they come for him? This was about Yeonbin and San over at his apartment. Or did these men come with a different reason?

Maybe Yeonbin had called the police on him with his stalking claims! And Hongjoong already made his way over to his window to open it, while he heard his father open the door. 

“Hello, how can I help you?” He asked. 

“Good morning, sir,” one of the two spoke up, “We got a call this morning with the warning that someone was being held hostage here.”

“I’m sorry?” 

“We just want to ask you if Kim Hongjoong is here? If so, we want to ask him some questions,” the other officer asked, but his mother was ahead of them.

“Hongjoong?”

Hongjoong could hear her footsteps coming closer again and a part of him hoped that Jongho stopped her, but he didn’t have enough time to dwell on that. It was now or never.

He grabbed the sheet and threw the other half out of the window, before he sat himself on the windowsill, one hand with a firm grip around the first sheet. 

“Hongjoong?!”

But upon hearing his mother’s shrill cry, three things happened. First, Jongho grabbed her and withheld her from running over to the window when she wanted to pull him away. Second, the two officers must have heard her cry and he heard heavy steps on the stairs. But third and foremost, Hongjoong startled and fell from his windowsill. 

_Crack!_

“Ah!”

When Hongjoong crashed to the ground underneath his window, a pang of pain shot through his arm and, oh, he most definitely had broken his wrist or something. But he had no time to think about the pain, besides, he was sure that what he felt now wasn’t even the worst, since the adrenaline rushed through his veins by now. 

Run. 

“Hongjoong!”

He needed to go home. 

“Hongjoong!”

It sure was a stupid idea to run away from two trained officers _and_ his brother’s manager, since he couldn’t even outrun Yunho, who had great stamina. But he hoped that the adrenaline was enough to drag him home. 

RUN! 

“Yah~ Hongjoongie-hyung, RUN!”

-

“Seonghwa-hyung just called the police,” Yeosang said over the phone to Wooyoug, “they are on their way over to us and Hongjoong-hyung.”

“I still can’t believe this,” Mingi mumbled, when he tried to sip on his coffee. 

“Me neither,” Yunho agreed.

He had woken Mingi up right after Seonghwa had announced he would call the police and he had given him a brief explanation of the situation. All the while Yeosang had stayed on the phone with Wooyoung, so they could monitor him in case Yeonbin would come after him. 

Now they just needed to wait for Wooyoung and the police to arrive. 

“Why aren’t they here yet,” Yunho said nervously, when he fidgeted with his half full mug. It only had been ten minutes since Seonghwa had explained their situation to the police and it wasn’t like he’d really expected them to be there already, but the longer it took for the police to be there, the more the unease in his stomach built up. 

“It isn’t an immediate emergency, so they won’t rush to us with their sirens on,” Seonghwa pointed out, “Besides, I just hang up, please have some patience.”

“Still, the police office isn’t that far from here,” Yunho pouted. 

“Please, stop being so nervous, Yunho,” Mingi then said, “It makes me all nervous too.”

“I just can’t help it…,” he whined this time, before he felt a familiar cold giving him the shivers. Of course San felt the same tension in the atmosphere and he tried to make Yunho feel better. And Yunho really tried to relax and lean into the not so physical affection, but it only made him tremble. 

“Wooyoung says he’ll be here in ten minutes,” Yeosang said, before he turned his attention to his friend on the phone once more, “Make sure to avoid abandoned places, okay? And don’t use public transportation.”

Seonghwa laughed a little at how careful Yeosang sounded. The chance that Yeonbin would attack Wooyoung in public was really small, yet not impossible. And Yunho was aware of that as well. Maybe that’s why he felt uneasy?

But what if Yeonbin would really go after Wooyoung now he broke up with him? What if he would go after Hongjoong! No. Maybe Hongjoong wasn’t safe from his brother’s company but he most definitely was safe from the outside world at home. 

He just wanted the police to be here already… 

“Hey, Yunho?” Mingi spoke up again, “Everything will be alright.”

Yunho nodded absentmindedly. 

_Knock knock_

All of them startled upon hearing the knocks on the front door and Yunho jumped up from his seat. 

“That’s fast,” Seonghwa noted as Yunho sped to the door. 

“Woo says it isn’t him,” Yeosang said.

“Isn’t that still a bit too early for the police to be here?” Mingi questioned, but Yunho didn’t listen. 

That must be the police. It couldn’t be someone else. It _needed_ to be the police, because Yunho felt terrible from the nerves and he would definitely throw up if this took any longer. So without hesitation he opened the door. 

_Bang!_

Oh. 

He’d envisioned a lot of possible scenarios in his head the past half hour, but this definitely wasn’t one of them. 

Right in front of him stood Wooyoung’s ex; Yeonbin, with a gun pointed at him. And Yunho gaped at the guy. It was almost a freeze frame if it weren’t for Yeonbin to realize he’d shot the wrong person in the stomach. 

“Shit!”

Oh. 

Yunho looked down barely realizing he’d been shot from the shock, before reality hit him hard when he noticed how crimson red spread under his shirt and stained the fabric. 

“Yunho!” 

He heard Mingi yell his name from afar when his knees buckled and he fell to the ground. And while the shutter ran off, Mingi ran over to him. 

“Hyung, Yeosang, grab a towel or something, Yunho’s bleeding!” Mingi yelled frantically, when he pulled off his own shirt to press on the wound and stop it from bleeding any more, “Someone call an ambulance!”

Yunho didn’t really register what happened anymore other than Mingi yelling at him to stay awake, even if he wanted to close his eyes. What he did see however, was how Seonghwa bolted past them after Yeonbin. 

-

Run.

Hongjoong was almost at his place and he was amazed at himself that he’d managed to outrun the police for this amount of distance. He’d always thought of the police as swift and people who could adapt to situations rather quickly, but they definitely weren’t in this situation. 

He was sure that he was running for at least fifteen minutes now and it would at least take another ten before he was at his flat. And for once he was actually glad he didn’t live that far away from his parents. 

Another reason why he was glad for the location of his flat, was because of the throbbing pain in his arm that began to increase when the adrenaline seemed to work out. 

Come on.

Just a little more. 

It didn’t help when he finally heard the sound of sirens from afar. 

He’d tried to run through the small streets where cars couldn’t pass through, but it wasn’t a short cut by any means. However it was definitely less crowded then the main streets, with less people who could pick up on the situation. 

Faster. 

Hongjoong tried to run faster but his legs started to have a hard time carrying him at this tempo. 

Then another siren joined the first one. Hongjoong perked up when he recognized it as the sound of an ambulance. That couldn’t be for him right? He was sure that he’d broken his arm, yes, but they couldn’t have seen so other than that he’d held his arm when he ran off. 

The ambulance drove past him when he needed to cross the road and to his surprise did it go in the direction of his flat. At that sight the unease in Hongjoong’s stomach made itself present once more. 

“Hongjoong-ah?!” 

Hongjoong startled and perked up at the voice that came from across the street. 

Wooyoung? 

Thank god he was safe! Both from his boyfriend and from his brother’s company, since he was outside and seemed unharmed. And Hongjoong deflated a bit in relief, but he didn’t have time to hang around and be sure about that. 

So he ran off again, following the ambulance. 

“Wait, Kim Hongjoong!” Wooyoung yelled when he ran after him.

No time to wait.

He needed to run faster, because he could hear multiple sirens belonging to police cars now. Hongjoong frowned. He knew they were after him, but wasn’t this a little bit over the top?

“Hongjoong!” Wooyoung was screeching by now, “You can’t go home!”

What? 

But then he saw something happening at the end of the street of which he didn't know explained Wooyoung’s words or just down right confused him even more. 

At the end of the street he saw two familiar figures running towards him. One of which was Seonghwa and the other being Yeonbin, who seemed to be running away from the first. 

“Stay away!” Seonghwa yelled to all the people who jumped away in confusion and fear, “He has a gun!” 

Hongjoong’s face paled when he heard the elder's warning. Then why in hell was that dumbass still running after him?! He could have been shot himself?! The warning most definitely made Hongjoong stop in his tracks, while he saw how Seonghwa accelerated. 

They came closer.

Closer. 

And Hongjoong didn’t move. 

He was frozen in his tracks, unable to move now, as if his feet were stuck to the concrete underneath him. 

“Hongjoong! Watch out!” 

But all he could do was close his eyes and cringe in on himself, when Yeonbin raised the gun and pointed it right at Hongjoong. 

“Hongjoong!” 

He prepared for impact. He completely diminished and held onto himself for dear life, but all he heard was a warrior's cry and accelerated footsteps passing him by from behind before he heard how bodies collided with each other. 

_Crash!_

The sound of metal sliding over concrete followed soon after, before Hongjoong dared to open one eye and see Wooyoung was on top of Yeonbin. Seonghwa had stopped behind the two, immediately stepping on the gun, before Yeonbin could grab for it. 

“This one is for San!”

_Punch!_

-

“You look like shit.”

It had been the first thing Wooyoung told him, when he slipped into the booth Hongjoong sat in. 

“Thank you,” Hongjoong said rather sarcastic, “You look great yourself too.”

At that Wooyoung laughed a bit awkward, since he knew what his face looked like after it had scraped the concrete during his reckless tackle. It could have been worse, he didn’t break his nose and there were just some nasty abrasions here and there. 

Right at the moment Hongjoong had thought he would have been shot by Yeonbin, Wooyoung had ran past him full on ignoring the firearm his ex held up. Earlier Yeosang had told him over the phone what had happened with Yunho, before he explained to him that was what had happened to San too, and when he saw the guy he couldn’t hold his raging anger. 

All the fear that Yeosang had talked into him seemed to disappear and made room for reckless bravery. It would have been funny in other circumstances to see the younger turn into a pro rugby player, when he bumped right into his ex boyfriend, face planting the concrete while they tumbled to the ground. Maybe they could laugh about it in the future. 

During the fall Yeonbin had been so surprised that he let go of the gun which slid right over to Seonghwa, who made sure Yeonbin couldn’t reach it anymore. In retrospect Seonghwa shouldn’t have needed to do such, and neither should Hongjoong have feared when he had pointed the gun at him, because the magazine had been empty. Yeonbin had used the one and only bullet to shoot someone else. 

And while Wooyoung had his way with Yeonbin, punching him a few times in the face, the police finally arrived. However, they hadn’t sped to Hongjoong, rather they ran over to Wooyoung, which they needed to separate from his ex, when they wanted to handcuff the guy. 

Meanwhile Seonghwa had handed the gun over to the authorities, before he walked over to wrap Hongjoong in an embrace. It was then that he noticed the condition of Hongjoong’s arm and he had asked an officer to call an ambulance for both Hongjoong and Wooyoung. 

“How’s your face?” Hongjoong then asked the younger, after they had ordered their drinks when a waitress had come up to their table. 

“Better,” Wooyoung said, “They removed the stitches and most of the bandaids yesterday. I’m a fast healer so I don’t need to worry much. How’s your arm?”

Hongjoong cringed when he remembered how the doctor had needed to set his bone back into the right place by pressing really hard on it, “It’ll heal. I did get scolded for jumping from the first floor though.” 

Wooyoung laughed and flinched from the sudden motion in his face, “I still can’t believe you did that!”

Well, Hongjoong didn’t either and it wasn’t like he’d planned to just jump. If it weren’t for his mother’s sudden entrance, he wouldn’t have startled and fallen. 

“How’s Yunho doing by the way?” 

Hongjoong smiled, when Wooyoung mentioned his friend. Yunho could count himself lucky that no vital organs had gotten damaged when he got shot right in the stomach, and the ambulance had been fast at the scene. It had indeed been the one that drove past Hongjoong that morning.

He did lose a lot of blood however and Hongjoong had a hard time dealing with a shocked Mingi, when they found each other in the hospital. Mingi had told him everything that happened when Yeonbin had shot Yunho and that their friend was now in surgery. On the other hand, it was kind of endearing to see Mingi cry like a mad man when Yunho woke up from the anesthesia. 

Yunho had been really lost at first and it had been funny how he started to ramble about things that made no sense at all, if it weren’t for the situation. Luckily he recovered fast and he was able to go home to Mingi’s and his flat the day before this day. 

Hongjoong had tagged along with Mingi when Yunho got released and he had seemed a lot more like himself, a lot less pale and a lot more lively. However he did have a hard time moving around, but Hongjoong guessed that that wouldn’t withhold him from dancing, which Mingi was going to have a hard time dealing with when he needed to tell his friend to sit still and let his wound heal. 

His doctor had also advised him to keep it calm for a few weeks, until he should go back to his old routine, but other than some prescribed painkillers and scheduled check-ups, Yunho was a free man. 

“He’ll survive,” Hongjoong answered and Wooyoung looked relieved to hear that. 

“And what about Seonghwa-hyung?” 

Ah, Park Seonghwa. 

Hongjoong shook his head while he laughed, thinking about how recklessly stupid that guy really was. 

After Yeonbin had gotten handcuffed and sent off to the police station, Hongjoong, Seonghwa and Wooyoung got questioned by one of the other officers. It must have been really confusing for the man when the three of them started to talk all at once. 

But eventually Seonghwa told the man about San’s case and the corruption surrounding it. When the officer had asked how he knew all this, Seonghwa had honestly answered that he had stolen the information from his father’s computer. 

Hongjoong had gaped at him at first, before the disbelief resolved into anger and he remembered punching the guy in his chest a few times. Seonghwa took the full blow, not because he knew Hongjoong was weak right now, but because he was aware that he deserved it after he had broken their promise not to do anything illegal. 

However the officer did listen to them, when Seonghwa showed him the proof on his usb stick. And not long after they watched how the officer put an official statement out to his colleges to arrest officer Seo. 

It turned out that he _knew_ his son had committed the crime and tried to hide the evidence; the receipt of the purchase of the gun. In the process he had claimed the case as his own and he had threatened any officer to keep their mouth shut that had worked on the case prior. 

“He’s doing okay,” Hongjoong said, “They gave him community service.”

After Seonghwa got severely scolded by his father for stealing information from his computer, he got a small praise for solving the corrupt case. And so thought the jury. He needed to fulfill several hours of community service instead of serving time in jail, which all of them were very grateful for.

The police had asked about Yunho and Hongjoong, since they were involved in solving the case as well, but Seonghwa had taken the full blame on himself when it came to stealing the information. And eventually they decided that the other two got punished enough for their deeds. 

“What kind of community service?” Wooyoung asked. 

“He works as a cleaner at the police station,” Hongjoong chuckled, “They do keep him under watch though.” And Wooyoung laughed along. 

“And how’s the suit with your brother’s company going?” Wooyoung then asked and honestly Hongjoong thought that Wooyoung wouldn’t have remembered after he had mentioned it to him once. 

It wasn’t specifically Hongjoong who was proceeding in taking his brother's company to court. But he hadn’t expected for Jongho to do so either. 

When Jongho had told him that he had applied for a job as a singer at the company and instead got employed as a bodyguard, he hadn’t thought anything other of it than sad. However, Jongho hadn’t told him the whole story.

Apparently the younger had been a trainee at the company for years now, but they kept pushing his debut date forward until they decided that they needed him for another job. Jongho had recorded everything as proof he could show to the police for his own case, but after everything that happened over at Hongjoong’s place, he had a lot more on his hands. 

So when the two officers were at Hongjoong’s house, he didn’t hesitate to expose the manager who tried to run off as well. That explained a lot to Hongjoong, because it explained why none of the officers had run after him that day. 

When the tyrant manager had been caught, he immediately got arrested for blackmailing and using violence, while the company got sued for their inhuman contracts they put their people under. And it became a pretty big item in the news.

**Busted: Family of the famous actor Kim Hongseok held hostage by his own company!**

_After Kim Hongjoong’s scandal, last week, one of the managers took it upon himself to keep them in line with the company’s wishes. An eyewitness saw how the young man got dragged to a car from his flat._

**New! The entertainment company, under which actor Kim Hongseok is active, under fire for inhuman contracts and terrible treatment towards their staff. **

**New! Former officer, from the police department in Seoul, involved in Homicide!**

_S. Yeonjun and his son, S. Yeonbin, are finally arrested after two years due to evidence fraud and murder in the case of Choi San._

**New! Kim Hongjoong helps solving a real murder!**

_Click here for more information about the university students who helped the police’s homice department solve an unsolvable murder!_

Neither Hongjoong, nor his friends have spoken to the reporters though, so he doubted all the information was trustworthy. Especially since he hadn't even told the police about his connection with San, which definitely was going to be a pain in the ass to explain. But for once those headlines made him feel good about being in the news. They also made him feel really aware of the fact that he _finally_ was a free man now. And so were his parents and brother. 

Hongjoong hadn’t spoken much with his family after everything that had happened and neither had he talked to his brother yet. Some of the trust in them had broken and they all knew that it would take a while to rebuild that. Hongjoong knew that it wasn’t specifically their fault and that he couldn’t blame them for everything that had been done to him, but he couldn’t help but feel at least a little bit bitter about the fact that his parents made him sign the contract back then. 

As far as the lawsuit, Hongjoong needed to undergo a lot of questioning about the contract, the tyrant manager _and_ on top of that more questioning about the case regarding Choi San. It was honestly exhausting and he really wanted it to be over with so he could finally go back to his normal life. 

And so Hongjoong explained to Wooyoung. 

The younger nodded, “They asked me to come in to answer some questions too.” 

“Because they also kept you hostage, right?” Hongjoong asked.

“No, no,” Wooyuong laughed a bit awkwardly, “They mentioned that you told them about that, but I haven’t been held hostage at all. I just didn’t feel like answering anything on my phone that day, because I needed to process what had happened at your apartment. ‘turns out it must have been a bluff from their side.”

Oh. 

Well, no use crying over spilled milk. 

“And…,” Wooyoung hesitated for a bit, before he finally asked for what they came together for, “What about Sannie?”

“He’s gone,” Hongjoong sighed, when he felt the the same prickling sensation behind his eyes which he had felt when he came back to his apartment a few days ago. 

When Hongjoong entered his flat after that heavy day, he hoped to come home to San’s excited voice, asking him how that day was, but it remained dead silent. He had remembered how Mingi had explained to him back at the hospital that he couldn’t fix the connection with San, so he had guessed that he just needed to wait for the ghost to flicker his lights or drop one of his books, but still nothing happened.

He’d walked further into his apartment and took in the messy state of his flat. He’d taken note of the memos on his wall and he could still smell some of Yunho’s blood through the cleaning Yeosang and done while Mingi had joined Yunho in the ambulance. 

He’d called out for San a few more times, but no one had responded. 

Maybe Hongjoong had felt it in his dream with San, that was the last time they would be together and it explained how clingy he had been to the younger, but it didn’t take away the grief that built up in his chest. And for the first time after everything that had happened that day, Hongjoong had cried. 

He cried for San. 

He cried because he lost someone that had grown way too dear to him. 

He lost San. 

He knew this was going to happen at some point and still he grew closer to the ghost. He wanted to scold himself for doing so, but at the same time he was so grateful to have met San, even if their friendship was meant to be temporary. 

When he had told the others about San’s passing on, Seonghwa was the first to come over - even though his parents hadn’t allowed him to leave the house for a while. He was the one to suggest that he shouldn’t stay in this flat and he was the one who came with the great idea to stay over at his place until they found a new flat. 

Hongjoong actually liked the idea. After he’d shared his flat with San for a few weeks, he liked the idea of having a roommate. He just hoped that Seonghwa didn’t throw random tantrums and cleaned after his mess. But other than that, he would like it. 

“I actually want to give you something,” Hongjoong then said, when he tried to grab something from his bag with his good hand.

“And that is?” Wooyoung asked.

At that Hongjoong grabbed an usb stick out of his bag at which Wooyoung frowned. 

“Is that the infamous usb?”

“No, no no!” Hongjoong was fast to respond, “the police took that one.”

“Then what’s this one?”

“I wrote a song,” Hongjoong started, “with San.”

Wooyoung’s eyes widened in disbelief, “Y-you did what?”

“Actually the afternoon, before you came, I recorded a demo version of this song with San,” Hongjoong explained, “He came up with a melody for the chorus, when I got stuck on that part. He really liked the song, so I want you to have it.” 

“Thanks,” Wooyoung said in a really small voice when Hongjoong handed the usb over to him. 

“I won’t use San’s voice when I’ll release the song on one of my platforms - with credit though, because I asked Jongho and Mingi to record the final version,” Hongjoong then said, “But I wanted you to have this. I also recorded some other stuff with him,” he added, “He wanted you to have these, whenever I got the chance to give them to you. He said it was because he couldn’t fulfill your promise and so you could listen to him when you feel down.”

And Wooyoung nodded, clearly trying to hold back tears. 

“Listen to them when your home,” Hongjoong said, “I’ll probably cry again when I need to listen to them one more time.”

At that Wooyoung laughed through his teary eyes, “Thanks for the heads up.”

-

“Wooyoung? Is that you?”

For the past week Wooyoung had slept over at Yeosang’s place, instead of his own apartment, because of everything that had happened and he didn’t want to be alone. 

“It’s me!” Wooyoung responded, before he walked straight over to Yeosang’s desk, where his computer was stated. 

“How was hyung?” 

“Hm,” Wooyoung answered absentmindedly when he inserted the usb in the computer. 

“What do you have there?” His friend then asked, when he walked over to Wooyoung, “Oh, another usb stick?”

He laughed a bit, but Wooyoung was too focussed on the two files that popped up on the screen. One of the two read ‘Answer demo version (San)’ and that was the first one he clicked on before San’s voice sounded through the speakers. 

_Let’s cheers, like a Thunder_

_I’ll fill you up_

_Till you overflow_

“Oh, is that Sannie?” Yeosang asked, but Wooyoung quickly hushed him.

“Shh!”

They listened to the whole three minute and forty seconds song and both were in awe for San’s voice - and Hongjoong’s rap. 

“I didn’t know he could sing like that!” Yeosang said excited, but Wooyoung only got more sad.

“I knew.”

“Ah,” Yeosang said, before both of them looked back at the screen, “‘you want to use my headphones for the other one? It says your name?”

“Yes.”

And so Wooyoung inserted the headphones into the device, before he put them on and clicked on the other file.

_“Hey, Young-ah,”_ it was San’s voice again, _“Hongjoongie-hyung is here with me, so this is going to be a little bit awkward, but I’ll try to ignore him.”_

Wooyoung laughed a bit when he heard Hongjoong protest in the background.

_“I just wanted to tell you that you shouldn’t be sad while I’m gone,”_ he started and Wooyoung felt like he’d already failed at that part of San’s wish, _“And I want you to break up with that asshole of a Yeonbin!”_ Well, at least that was something Wooyoung could check off. 

_“I know it’s selfish of me to wish for you, but I want you to move on and live. I want you to have fun with Yeosangie, but also with Hongjoongie-hyung - you should meet him, he’s a really lame yet cool hyung! - and Yuyu and Minmin, they’re really nice people,"_ and Wooyoung chuckled at San’s enthusiasm, _“I take it you know Seonghwa-hyung through Yeosangie already?”_

Wooyoung nodded even though San couldn’t see it. 

_“And, uhm,”_ he could hear the hesitation in San’s voice, _“I’m sorry I couldn’t keep our promise. I’m sorry I died, because there were so many things I still wanted to do with you and there were still so many things I wanted to tell you.”_

“Thanks, Kim Hongjong,” Wooyoung said out loud rather sarcastically, when he felt the first tears slip down his cheeks.

_“Young-ah? Keep up, okay? Even when I’m not around anymore, okay? I’ll be there with you!”_

_“Amicus ad Aras!”_

“AMICUS AD ARAS!”

_“I love you, from your Sannie.”_

“I LOVE YOU TOO!”

_“Yah~ hyung, can we record his morning alarm too?”_

_“San, seriously? I can’t keep up with you…”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading and sticking till the end <3  
> I hope you liked it :)
> 
> I hope I'll be able to post at least one other Ateez fanfic in the near future, but I can't promise anything (since I'm a really unorganized person...).  
> For now, goodbye and until the next story! <3


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